Fall of the Gods Book 2: Phoenix Effect
by Scourge75
Summary: When Earth finally succumbs to the infighting of the Humans, a Phoenix will rise from the ashes of the nuclear winter created by World War III. Full summary inside. Focuses mainly on the Mass Effect Universe with minor references to Stargate SG1 and Atlantis. Sequel to Fall of the Gods Book 1: Colonials on the Run. Sets up the SA in Fall of the Gods Book 3: Reasons We Fear the Dark
1. Author's Forward

Author's Forward

**Author's Notes on Organization**

*Location Organization*

***Local Cluster (Sol System)***

Used to denote Cluster, Nebula, Nova, etc as well as system. Gives very broad location-based details.

**Earth (Orbit)**

Used to denote planet name and location in relevance to the planet. Gives more specific location-based details.

*_Relentless Carnage_ (CIC)*

Used to denote ship name and exact location in ship. Gives move specific location-based details.

Full Example:

***Local Cluster (Sol System)***

**Earth (Orbit)**

*_Relentless Carnage_ (CIC)*

*Font-Style Organization*

Single words written in _italics_ are ship names (see Example 1). Extended sections written in _italics_ are radio communications (see Example 2), or AIs/VIs speaking (see Example 3).

Example 1: _USS Daedalus_, _USS Odyssey_, _Relentless Carnage_

Example 2: _"Alright people let's get the hell out of dodge,"_ Jack replied from his position on the bridge of the _Clausus Cursor_.

Example 3: _"We've got trouble. After a group of Humans came through and started pocking around, another unknown ship arrived in orbit. After chasing off the Humans, it then proceeded to launch fighters and land troops on the surface,"_ Widget said.

Single words written in **bold** are emphasized (see Example 4). Headings written in **bold** are flashbacks (see Example 5). Extended sections written in **bold** are Goa'uld/Tok'ra speaking (see Example 6). Single words centered and underlined are the chapter title (see Example 7). Extended sections written in underline are special situations (see Example 8).

Example 4: "I **will** stop you. On that, you have my word!" Sieon snarled.

Example 5: *****Milky Way Galaxy (Obscured Arm)*****

****Lucian Alliance Territory (Ba'al/LA Border)****

***Patrol Vessel (Bridge) [roughly three days before SGB arrived on **_**Resurrection Hub**_**]***

Example 6: **"That is your problem, Human. You're so busy saving everyone else from threats that they don't know existed that you never stopped to tell them that they were threatened in the first place. The current state of your planet is a prime example of what that leads to,"** the Tok'ra smirked smartly.

Example 7: Author's Forward

Example 8: "We're in my mind aren't we?" he asked, more than a little pissed at having his mind invaded by yet another alien race.

"No, we're in mine," Sieon said reassuringly.

"Wow, sure is empty in here," Jack said after a moment of gazing around the rather empty plain.

*Symbols Organization*

Brackets "[]" are used to denote time jumps for both flashbacks (see Example 9) and jumps forward (see Example 10).

Example 9: *****Milky Way Galaxy (Obscured Arm)*****

****Lucian Alliance Territory (Ba'al/LA Border)****

***Patrol Vessel (Bridge) [roughly three days before SGB arrived on **_**Resurrection Hub**_**]***

Example 10: ***Milky Way Galaxy (Orion Arm)***

**Dead Space**

*_Battlestar Galactica_ (CIC) [twenty minutes later]*

_Italicized_ sections with apostrophes, '', in place of quotation marks, "", are mental comments or private thoughts (see Example 11).

Example 11: _'Well, that could've gone better,'_ Nick thought to himself.

**Full disclaimer**

Stargate is the sole property of Metro-Goldwyn Mayer. I claim nothing but the ideas that are originally mine.

Mass Effect is the sole property of Electronic Arts International. I claim nothing but the ideas that are originally mine.


	2. Prelude

Prelude

***Horse Head Nebula (Anadius System)***

**Anadius (Orbit)**

*Cronos Station (Observation Deck) [time stamp unavailable]*

The screen in the middle of the bank of holographic terminals crackled to life as the personal journal of the leader of the Mars Expedition was brought up. Sitting back in a large and comfortable chair, the man watching the recordings took a swig of a dark liquor followed by a long drag on a cigarette. Finally the recordings began.

**Day One:** "We reached orbit of Mars today. Initial scans show that the structure the rover picked up wasn't a false reading. As far as the public knows, there's nothing on Mars and this shuttle was headed deeper into to space. They think we're on our way to Neptune, but there's nothing interesting out there."

**Day Two:** "We've been sitting here doing nothing for too long. Well, not really nothing. We can't get our computers to link to the ones in the bunker so we're trying to alter our broadcasting equipment to see if we can get a working signal."

**Day Three:** "Third day up here and **finally** got the damned transmitter broadcasting on a frequency the structure below the surface can pick up. We had to alter the damned thing so drastically that it's not even broadcasting in normal space anymore. Whatever, at least now we can get on with the important part."

**Day Four:** "Whoever it was that built this place sure is a pain in the ass. Now that we finally have a link to the surface, we're fighting our way past firewalls that we don't even understand. We're stumbling along in the dark and I don't like it."

**Day Five:** "It's going to take us awhile to get through these firewalls. That's all I'm willing to say today."

**Day Six:** "Today… today marked the beginning of a new age for mankind. Too bad it's not a good thing. The Russian Prime Minister was assassinated by his own son, Rascal." The man in the playback shook his head in disbelief. "Rascal's a horrible person. He wants to take over the world and now he has the entire Russian military under his control. Things back home are about to get crazy."

**Day Seven:** "The one time I wish I had been wrong, I wasn't. Rascal's already gearing up for war. His armies are expanding. He's building more tanks and fighters. The entire Russian war machine is waking up. I… I don't know if I want to be up here where it's safe, or down there where my family is. I just… I don't think I'd be able to help anyway. Best that I'm here."

**Day Eighteen:** "I haven't been feeling well. How could I? There's a war going on, and we're losing! Rascal's already invaded Germany and Japan. The really bad part? He's allied himself with the Chinese and they've invaded India and Korea. From what we can tell, the North Koreans went off and joined them too. The South Koreans… our best estimates put the entire country's population down to less than five-thousand within the month. They're just… flying over every major city and farm land and they're bombing it like they don't even need the land for themselves. We think the North Koreans are the ones behind this, but… it doesn't matter who's doing it. It needs to be stopped."

**Day Twenty-Two:** "I know that I haven't been updating regularly like you ordered me to, but there's nothing to report. We're still stalled out on these damned computers and nothing we do is changing that. We need a hardwire connection or something."

"_I'll see what I can get you. Expect another resupply shuttle within the week with another rover. O'Neill out."_

**Day Twenty-Six:** "General O'Neill really pulled through. He sent us a small army of rovers. We sent them down to the surface and have established several hardwire connections to the bunker's computers. We should be able to get past their damned firewalls soon… I hope."

**Day Forty-Two:** "I thought I saw something today in the coding. Raddick Zelinka, one of my 'helpers' confirmed it. We've found the key to deciphering the binary coding on this bunker. We'll be in the systems and, more importantly, in the base itself in a matter of days!"

**Day Forty-Seven:** "It's taken us Forty-Seven days to crack the damned firewalls on this bunker's computers. Granted we had to remotely hack them from orbit, but, once we did, it was easy enough to open the garage door. We landed a rover and made it into the facility easily enough after that. I decided to record this log entry on the main computer as a way of saying, 'In your face,' to the creating race. Childish, I know, but I… I need the distraction."

**Day Forty-Eight:** "I'll be the first person to admit it. We've found so much data down here that we can't process it all. Command's sending in more specialists to help, but they're not really interested in the data. All they care about is getting the ships we found in the hangar to fly. We've determined that this isn't a facility native to this planet. There were never aliens on Mars. Well… there were, they just didn't evolve here. These aliens came here from outside of our solar system. They're called 'Protheans' and their empire spanned the entire galaxy! Then… they disappeared without a trace.

"We've searched every record for what happened to them, but all we found were records of one of their own betraying them. Fifty-thousand years ago this place housed about one-hundred-fifty of these Protheans then one of them shut off the life-support systems and they all suffocated. The ships are in perfect condition, but we can't even get them to open! Command is getting pissy, and, needless to say, my ego has taken yet another blow. In other news, the war is escalating and the Russians have noticed our interest in Mars. They might end up nuking our Earth-based Command Center to cut off our supply line then send their own shuttles up here to kill us and take this station and its technology for theirselves."

**Day Forty-Nine:** "The Russian occupation of Germany got worse today. My heart goes out to my comrades trapped by these assholes. In other news, Command's new specialists got here today as well. The most interesting of which is some chick named Samantha Carter. She's tall, blonde, beautiful, smart… and totally sexist. I asked her if she needed help moving her bags, and she snapped at me. Said something about how, 'just because my reproductive organs are on the inside doesn't mean that I can't handle myself.' If you can look past that, she managed to find out how the ships work. A mineral created during the death of a sun that has the ability to affect mass within a localized area of space-time. Using this, the mass of the ship is reduced to near zero then accelerated to faster than light speeds. We're calling it Element Zero as our own little joke."

**Day Fifty:** "Samantha Carter, the brilliant blue-eyed, blonde-haired beauty really is a huge asset. Today she found the codes to access the ships. I don't know how she does it, but damn she's good… and she looks good doin' it too. Just… don't tell her that I said that. I also found out that she's one of America's brightest minds, and possibly one of Earth's, and that she works for the United States Air Force. That explains her determination to crack the ships' coding. I knew that the military was only interested in the ships. Can't say I blame them. Rascal is getting even more aggressive. The Russians fired Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles at Japan today. Thank god the Japs managed to shoot the ICBMs down in time.

"Other than Sam's status as a Captain… Captain Carter, has nice ring to it. Anyway, I found out that these Protheans weren't just advanced in space. We found armor that has shields and weapons that work like miniature, handheld railguns. This stuff could turn the tide of the war, but there's a limited supply. On a side note, Sam's determined that the Protheans only used their FTL drives for short ranged missions. It turns out that they use something called a 'Mass Relay' to cross greater distances, and that's a different headache all together! There are two types of Relays, they're massive, and incredibly complex."

**Day Fifty-One:** "We… well, really Captain Carter figured out how to fly the ships today. Actually took one for a little joy ride. Well… we got it to make orbit. Then the fuel cells just… ran dry. We were stuck up in the ship for a couple of hours before the other researchers managed to get one of the other ships, that actually had full fuel, into orbit to help us out. After **I** found out what the fuel was, we went to Uranus to skim some H-3 out of the atmosphere. After we refueled the other ship, we landed them both back in the hangar and spent the night looking over the third one."

**Day Fifty-Two:** "The third ship… it's a war ship. Protheans called it a Cruiser class. It's impressive, to say the least. It's equipped with… well, Sam says that General O'Neill, the American General assigned to this project, would call them 'big honkin' space guns.' The military's excited about the possibility of ending the war quickly and nuke free. We're all excited really. We spent the whole night having a small party. On a side note, we've determined that the Mass Relay connected to Sol is frozen inside Charon, one of Pluto's moons."

**Day Fifty-Three:** "The first nuke of the war was launched today. The Americans blockaded China to cut off Russia's supply lines. Needless to say, the Russians didn't like that very much. Three nukes hit the eastern coastline and five hit the western. We all spent today in silence. Nobody knew what to say." The man's face contorted as tears rolled down his cheeks. "American ships in dry-dock and close to the shoreline were destroyed by the impacts or the resulting tidal waves. The tsunamis are spreading far and fast and soon low-lying areas of France, Portugal and Great Britain are going to be flooded. The death toll will be unimaginable, and most of them are just civilians.

"The Americans had everyone's bet as being the ones to take out Rascal. He's killed our only hope, but what's worse… Sam's face. Her father, sister, husband… they all lived in Washington. Washington got hit the worst… She's so broken she didn't even snap at me when I carried her food try to her table at lunch today. Her hands won't stop shaking either. We've also determined that the Charon Relay, as we've decided to call it, can't be unfrozen anytime soon. Since you don't know what that means… well, it's best said that we're effectively stuck here with a mad man."

**Day Fifty-four:** "I can't believe it! The Americans are pushing back and they're pushing back **hard**! They've already taken the eastern Russian coastline. The nukes only pissed them off. They're swarming over Russia like Rascal hit a hornet's nest with a stick! It turns out that they were holding back this whole time. They didn't want to get too involved or something like that but this… it's like the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor all over again, only it gets better!

"The American aggression forced Rascal to reposition his troops, and, while they were moving, a massive troop convoy was bombed into oblivion by the British Royal Air Force. Those two attacks weakened the enemy and empowered our troops. General Chekov, the leader of the German Rebellion, led an attack on the Russian occupation force. After months of occupation, Germany is almost entirely free! One wrong move and now Rascal's empire is falling apart around him. Sam's even smiling. God what a beautiful sight. She heard from General O'Neill. He told her that her family had been moved when her father was reposted. They're in Texas and alive, and, just to make things better, we've found a Mass Relay in a nearby system that's within FTL range. Maybe we can explore the galaxy later."

**Day Fifty-Five:** "Goddamn it! The Americans launched a full-scale joint offensive against Rascal's main command center with the Germans and the Japs. Rascal lost the battle, but he was in China when it happened. He's still alive, and, to make matters worse, when the bunker was taken… the entire Russian nuclear arsenal auto-launched on course to pre-designated targets. Germany, Japan, the American-occupied Eastern Russia… hell, even Central America itself was targeted! The bulk of the missiles were taken down by the naval forces defending the countries but… two more hit America.

"The only part to be even remotely thankful for was that the missiles hit the areas that were already destroyed by the first five. We're considering it blind luck for now. Germany took one in a city that the Russians still had minor control of. Dumb-asses bombed their own soldiers. Japan didn't get hit by a nuke, but the mother of all earthquakes ripped several of their cities to shreds. They're out of the fight for good this time. My heart goes out to them. If that's not bad enough, the earthquake launched another huge tsunami. We just can't get a break!"

**Day Fifty-Six:** "The tsunami that resulted from the Japanese earthquake practically destroyed the Hawaiian islands. One of the most beautiful places on Earth is now nothing more than a massive disaster zone. I always wanted to go to Hawaii. Now… I'll never get the chance."

**Day Fifty-Seven:** "It'll take years for the Hawaiian islands to be habitable again. Not only were they flooded with water, but the water was just radioactive enough to poison what parts of the biosphere did survive. Rascal has a lot to answer for, but, to be honest, I don't think he'll ever be caught."

**Day Sixty-Two:** "Yeah, I know, it's been awhile. It's just… I think I'm getting depressed. We're surrounded by advanced alien technology that could cure diseases, save lives, bring an end to world hunger… The shity part is, we won't live long enough to use it. Not if Rascal has his way, and, trust me, he **will** have his way."

**Day Sixty-Six:** "We keep picking up strange transmissions coming from the bunker. Can't peg what they are, but they're leaving the bunker and heading out into deep space. Still looking into possible causes. Might be an automated distress call. I wonder what the Protheans would do if they found us here? Maybe they'd help us with Rascal…"

**Day Seventy:** This time, when the man's face reappeared on the screen, he looked shocked and had blood on his face. "One of the guys down here… was working for Rascal. We caught him transmitting data to a deep space probe that then relayed it back to Earth for Rascal's men to interpret. We thought it was the bunker transmitting to the Protheans. God we're so stupid. We think we know so much, but, compared to these Protheans, we're so fucking primitive we're probably not even worth conquering to them!"

"_Focus. I need to know the status of the personnel,"_ General O'Neill interrupted the scientist.

"Don't worry about the blood, it's not mine. I tried to stop the asshole from transmitting the designs to the personal shields the Protheans had to Rascal and the bastard managed to outmaneuver me. I'm not saying a soldier, but…" O'Neill cleared his throat. "Right, sorry. Captain Carter shot the guy in the head with one of those Prothean weapons we found. Damned accurate weapons, I'll say that much. The bullet went right over my shoulder. Anyway, the blood is his and he was the only one hurt. I'm pretty sure the transmission didn't go through either, but Captain Carter decided to launch the Prothean Cruiser. She's out blowing up Rascal's probe right now. She'll be back in a few minutes."

"_Keep me apprised of the situation. I want an update every hour. I'm sending a team of military specialists I trust completely. They'll keep you safe."_

**Day Seventy-Two:** "General O'Neill's military crew got here today. One of them, Colonel Ryan Mitchell, is really hardcore. He's a bit extreme, but he's also strangely… comforting. I don't know, it's hard to explain. It's just that… you stand near him, and you get this vibe that you're safe. Then there's his XO, a feisty red head by the name of Sergeant Nicolas Green."

**Day Seventy-Four:** "The Protheans, despite our initial belief that they were good people, were real assholes. Any race they came across that was less advanced than they were but advanced enough to be a threat were attacked, besieged, and forced to become a part of the Prothean Empire. They weren't equals though. The Protheans themselves ruled over everyone with an iron fist. For the most part it was peaceful, but several of the races rebelled. It was foolish to. The Protheans had the largest military and the most powerful ships. I have officially decided that I hope I never meet one. Not that it's likely I will seeing as how they were around… fifty-thousand years ago was the last date in the computer. Anyway…"

**Day Forty Six:** "More on the Protheans, yay! And I say that with all the sarcasm I can. These guys were brutes. Not only did they subjugate everyone, but they stripped them of their identities. Every race under their control eventually came to call themselves 'Prothean.' They're just like Rascal, only on a galactic scale. Damn I hate them already! But the other races?

"I read up on a few of them in something called the 'Galactic Codex.' It's basically Wikipedia for the galaxy at large. Everything from planet names and locations to information on the historic backgrounds on the races of the Prothean Empire. My favorite are the Etere Republics. They were just like America on a galactic scale. Their government was set up with equal representation from each planet reporting to a parliamentary court of… things that needed to be addressed, basically. Anyway, they were peaceful and had their own corner of the galaxy so happy that there was hardly any poverty or crime. A true utopian society, or, at least, as close as you can get! Then the Protheans came in and took over the government.

"After that, the rest of them resisted with everything they had to maintain their freedom. In response to this… the Protheans destroyed them all. Like I said, just like Rascal and America. Americans… give those bastards a reason to fight and they'll fight to the bitter end. I wonder what they teach their soldiers to get that level of loyalty and commitment out of them. They're truly amazing people."

**Day Forty Seven:** "This entry goes back to the war. Rascal launched another wave of nukes. This one was entirely shot down, but I'm starting to think that this isn't going to end with the Human race walking away. We need a way to save our people. Sam suggested that we leave Earth behind. I think I might be going crazy because… well, I agree with her. The only hope for the Human race… is to abandon our homeworld, our birth place. How fucked up is that? I always imagined we'd colonize other worlds because we **wanted** to, not because we **had** to. Rascal changed all that. Thanks to him, Earth is no longer a viable option for the survival of the alpha race that was born on it. We have to leave our homes behind and make new ones… in the stars."

**Day Seventy-Nine:** "The nukes are still flying. God I can't believe this," the tear stained face of Captain Carter appeared in place of the man's this time. "They said World War II was supposed to be the 'war to end all wars.' They were wrong. World War III will be the war to end all wars. Rascal's switched from conquering the free world to destroying it! He's going to wipe our entire race off the face of the planet without a second thought! That bastard…" Sam chocked on her words and the man from the earlier recordings stepped into view and wrapped his arms around her as she broke down into tears. "He killed my family!" Sam finally gasped. The pain in her voice was so obvious it hurt just to hear it.

"I know, Sam. Just let it out," the man said comfortingly.

"Command's concerned about the survival of our species. We're no longer here for exploration, or to gain the edge on Rascal. Our job is to build Ark Ships to carry as many people as possible away from the planet, away from the death of our own world. We realize that we can't save them all, so, instead, we're going to save scientists who can help the people rebuild, workers to do the rebuilding, biologists to make sure the planets are safe… We're not going to let people buy tickets. No rich or famous person will be allowed onboard unless they're truly useful. God listen to us. We're talking about choosing who lives and who dies. We're playing God with our own people and it's so wrong, but… we don't even have a choice at this point."

**Day Eighty-Three:** "We've began construction of the new ships. Sam's coping with everything by throwing herself into this project to the exclusion of everything else. She's going to work herself to death. I'm worried about her, but I know that this is what she sees as what's best for her. I better get back to work. Humanity won't save itself after all."

**Day One-Hundred-Ten:** "I feel that leaving this log is necessary because I want people to remember her. Captain Samantha Carter died earlier this month. One of the drive cores went critical and she ran in to shut it down. The Element Zero radiation caused tumors to grow throughout her body. She died giving her life so that others could live. May she always be remembered for her courage, her heart, her undying loyalty, drive, focus… There are too many things to list."

**Day One-Thousand, Nine-Hundred-Six:** "It's been Five years since my last update. We've finished the ships and the people being evacuated are getting settled in now. God they're massive! Two-and-a-half-kilometers long to be precise. We used the Prothean ships we already had to gather the materials we needed to make them form other solar systems and even depleted Earth's entire stockpile of Iron, Steel, and several other metals. We reverse engineered a Prothean alloy for the hulls, so they'll be able to survive a brutal beating, though they're unshielded for now.

"We didn't have enough eezo to equip the whole fleet with barriers. The drive cores are barely big enough to drag the massive ships through FTL, but they'll get us where we're going. We had to create an independent batch of military ships to guard the Ark Ships incase we meet the Protheans on the way out. It's not much, only a handful of Frigates by Prothean standards with a single Prothean Cruiser serving as the flagship, but it's enough to ease the minds of the civilians. They brought in a man by the name of Admiral Steven Hackett to lead the military forces. Colonel Mitchell is hi XO. The warships are crewed up with as many military personnel as we could squeeze into them. We'll need them to protect us from anything out there that's hostile. We have nearly one-hundred-thousand people pulled from the armed forces of multiple countries to be fair. The Admiral himself is Canadian if I'm not mistaken.

"Each Ark Ship will hold twenty-five-thousand people, including the crew, and we have twenty-five, so we managed to save six-hundred-twenty-five-thousand people. We know that that number's not enough to keep the Human race going, so we're also taking a piece of Prothean tech with us. The people won't know this, but we gathered DNA samples from the hospitals of Earth from every country. Using a Prothean genetics machine called the 'Matrix'… we generated massive numbers of clones created from randomized DNA structures with random personalities and even imprinted a lot of knowledge into their minds so that they didn't have to be taught. There's no telling how the people will react to this, so we're not going to tell them. They think that this fleet is the last in a wave of fifteen, each one having launched a year apart.

"By the time we reach the colonies, an army of cloned Humans will have already set up everything they need to survive on the planets in terms of industry, but we didn't have the time to set up fleet production facilities like we wanted to. The clones won't be aware that they're clones either. We were careful and cloned people of all ages with varying… 'histories' imprinted into their minds. This will allow us to take the six-hundred-twenty-five-thousand people we managed to save and jump it up to roughly nine-and-a-half million 'Humans' left alive after the fall of Earth. We were also sure to imprint the American fighting spirit into the clones as a whole so the Human race will be… hard to beat down. I hope that doesn't come back and bite us in the ass later. We also created another seventy-thousand clones with military memories, training, skills, and even gave them some Prothean knowledge so they'd know how to use the new equipment we gave them. It'll help if we ever meet the Protheans.

"This is important as it means that the Human race as we know it… is now gone. We did our absolute best to make sure that we didn't genetically engineer any super Humans, but there's no guarantee that something didn't go wrong somewhere during the process. The Human race has been saved, but it's not ideal. Regardless of this, we did save our species. This will be the most closely guarded secret in all of Human history… the fact that we're no longer Human. The only ones authorized to know this are the ones who ordered it done, all of whom will die on Earth, and the ones who did it, all of whom will continue on knowing the darkest secret in the universe.

"I honestly don't know why I'm leaving this message. It's a gross breach of security, but I feel it necessary if only to ease my consciousness. After all, it's not like anyone form Earth will survive to find this place. The nukes have already started flying from both sides. General O'Neill assured us that they would make sure Rascal never makes if off of Earth. They, the Americans, have set their nuclear arsenal to blanket the entire globe. They're going to destroy the Earth in one final act of vengeance. If this **is** ever found by anyone, don't blame them for what they're doing," the man said, tears in his eyes again.

"It's either everyone dies in one final act of resistance, or live forever under the thumb of a madman who would surely try to take over the galaxy at large if given the chance. They actually put it to a vote in the upper echelons of the militaries and governments worldwide. It was this 'Council' that made the decision. The only reason the Americans are the ones nuking Earth is because they're the only ones with enough nukes left to pull it off. Everyone else's supplies were taken by the Russians. It's… the bombing scheduled to take place in a matter of hours. We're jumping the fleet out as soon as the first nuke flies. We want them to know that Earth is gone so they won't want to go back. It's for the best that way. We're also dropping probes behind us to make sure we have warning if anyone does survive.

"We've armed a Disruptor Torpedo, a Prothean nuclear alternative, and set it to destroy this bunker if anyone ever steps foot in it again. Why we're not just destroying it outright I don't know, but Command said to leave it intact so that's what we're going to do. That's… all that I have left to say. For what will be the last time… this is Doctor Rodney McKay of the Mars Expedition signing off. May God have mercy on our souls."

As the video cut off, movement behind the man watching the videos caught the man's attention. "Why do you insist on watching that every morning?" another man asked.

"To remind me why it is that we do what it is that we do," the Illusive Man said as he blew out a puff of smoke.


	3. A Phoenix Rises from the Ashes of the Fa

Chapter 1

A Phoenix Rises from the Ashes of the Fallen

***Local Cluster (New Hope)***

**Terra Renatus (Surface)**

*New Vancouver (Capital Building) [two months after the fall of Earth]*

There was a massive crowd assembled before the capital building of Terra Renatus, seat of the President of the Terran Parliament. Today was the day that the Humans inaugurated their first President, the one who would lead their people for the next five years. It was the last political matter to be settled before the government was complete. The Parliament had already been elected and now they would finally have the last piece put in place.

Stepping up to the podium, the elected official began his speech. The cameras, microphones, and broadcasting equipment would carry this moment in history across the stars in real-time so that the entire Human race could share in the experience.

"Ladies and gentlemen, survivors of the planet Earth, I stand before you today humbled by your decision to allow me the prestigious honor of being your first president. When the call went out for a leader, I will admit that I did not see myself fulfilling that role. However, a good friend of mine convinced me that it was necessary. It would turn out that you agreed with him.

"Our people are not yet whole. We are still fractured, wounded, and hurt. We made it off of Earth with a relatively small number of people and an even smaller number of soldiers. We know not what lies in wait for us beyond the systems we have already claimed, but we do know that we are not alone in the universe. We are not the ones who built the Mass Relays, nor are we the ones who developed the bulk of the technology that carried us away from our doomed home. We must be prepared for any eventuality, but we must present ourselves as a people of reason, a people of peace. We must free ourselves of the mindset of war. We must embrace our civility and come together as a whole that is not as violent natured as we once were.

"On Earth, we allowed our hatred for one another to be our downfall. We no longer have the option of hate for one another. We are few in number and each life is now more precious and irreplaceable than ever they were before. We must come together, not as many nations united as one world against the powers that be that wish us harm, but as an alliance of star systems, a Systems Alliance if you will, working together towards the betterment of all mankind. We no longer have the luxury of racism or sexism. Every man, woman, and child left, every person of every background and every nationality that stands before you, beside you, or amongst you is now important beyond measure.

"Every drug addict, every alcoholic, every psychologically deranged member of society was purposefully left behind on Earth so that the rest of us could flourish without their negative influence. We have no more weed, no more meth, and no more illegal or contraband drugs. We have only the genuine medical supplies we packed up and brought with us and those supplies are precious and sparse. We have no more beer, no more brandy, no more tequila, or anything else of the sort. It can be remade, don't get me wrong, but our first order of business is to make sure our colonies are ready to survive and that means that such luxuries as alcohol and parties are going to have be put on hold until the appropriate time.

"Our second order of business is the defense of our worlds for we know that the Protheans who came before us were not civil in their manners of government. They saw to it to bring about the fall of anyone and everyone who stood before them, and we must be ready to take on that challenge if and when it presents itself. Unfortunately for us, we have few soldiers left and even fewer warships available to them. We have no tanks, we have no jeeps, we have no humvees, and we have no plains or fighters. We have very little in the ways of defense and so we must build our fleet while working towards the betterment of our society, or, when other powers hostile to our own come knocking, we might not be able to defend what is ours. Make no mistake. I will not create an army to attack aliens on sight, but I will make sure that our homes are as well defended as they possibly can be.

"For such a force to exist, we will have to begin training a new army and building a new fleet. One equipped with the tools needed to defend us. We will have to recreate the old weapons of war that were our very downfall on Earth, but we must do so in a way that assures they cannot be misused. To that end, we must stand united as one so that all are viewed as equals. Only then will the common man be able to associate with his fellows. Only then will we be able to avoid war amongst ourselves. We must embrace our neighbors as though they were our brothers and sisters. We must fight to keep poverty off of our streets. We must be sure to share the wealth we do not need with those who do not have enough. We must be sure to keep our minds, our hearts, and our souls free of corruption for the betterment of us all.

"We must draw upon the knowledge and experience of our elders and use it to its fullest. We must draw upon the energy and passion of our youth and use it to inspire us, to drive us towards the best possible future we can create for ourselves. Together we will build a life worth having. Together we will achieve things worth achieving. Together we will stand united against adversity and together we will beat the odds and create a place for ourselves amongst the stars that we now call our home. United, together, as one organism with one heartbeat, one mindset, one soul, and one drive we will forge for ourselves the future we were born to have.

"Make no mistake, ladies and gentlemen. Today is a great day to be alive, because today my brothers, my sisters, my friends. Today is the first day of the rest of our lives! Today we declare to the galaxy, to ourselves, to the fallen heroes of yesterday, to the heroes that will rise tomorrow and in the coming years, to our pasts and to our futures. Today we lift our voices as one and we proudly declare that we will not bow to the greed of the few. We declare that we will not leave behind the less fortunate. We declare that will work together to achieve true greatness.

"Today we declare that, though we may stumble, we will not fall. Though we may falter, we will not be beaten. Though we have lost many things dear to us, we have gained much, much more. Only together can our true greatness be achieved. Only together can the Human race rise from the ashes of Earth as a phoenix rises from the ashes of the fallen. Only together can the Children of Earth succeed where history demanded that we fail. From this day forward, my fellow Humans, the Children of Earth shall be seen by the galaxy at large as a single force united, not for the purpose of war, not for the purpose of greed, not the purpose of personal gain, not for the purpose of survival, but for the purpose of wholeness, the purpose of family and unity.

"Together we will not merely survive. Together we will live lives worth living! Together we will throw off the shackles of despair and replace them with the beautiful freedoms of hope. Together we will not let the darkness of our pasts overshadow the brilliant, blinding light that is the glory of our future. Together we are no longer one nation amongst many. That mentality is no longer acceptable. We are not one planet amongst many. We are not one colony amongst many. We are one organism. We are Humanity, and we are worth saving!

"Now I have but one question left for you all. Who's with me?" The question was met by an uproar of cheers as the assembled crowd showed their agreement.

"I said, 'who's with me?!'" The response to the challenge was louder than the response to the question.

"WHO'S WITH ME!?" the new President asked for the third time. The response was deafening.

*New Vancouver (Terra High Command)*

Nick walked into the war room buried deep beneath the surface of Terra. His advisors were already waiting for him.

"Excellent speech, Mister President. It was very inspiring," Doctor Rodney McKay said.

"Thank you, Doctor, but I feel you deserve recognition yourself. You did, after all, lead the expedition that saved all our lives," Nick replied.

"I did only what had to be done to assure that our people didn't die on Earth," Rodney said in a tone that hinted at his easing depression.

"You did a damned good job of it, Doctor," Admiral Hackett added.

"A damned good job indeed," Nick agreed. "Now, I believe your people set up several things for us before we actually got here. Mind filling me in?"

"Certainly, sir," Rodney replied. "As we built the Ark Ships we found ourselves rapidly running out of materials as the ships are massive and Earth wasn't exactly able to send us what we needed. Captain Carter, before her death, devised a way to use the existing Prothean ships we already had form the bunker to make a network of mines. Using the ships, we carried miners and equipment to asteroids, planets, and dwarf planets rich in metals we needed. We also set up fueling platforms in or near gas giants. We set up small production labs…"

"Is there anything you didn't do?" Admiral Hackett interrupted in an astonished tone.

"Eezo mining operations were only able to be set up in certain locations. Our supplies were completely depleted when we built the Ark Ships and the mines were bled dry. We'll have to find a new source of eezo before we can expand our operations, but the Ark Ships themselves are heavily armored and can, theoretically, survive the harsh conditions of eezo mining. If we re-equip them with the proper tools and modify the internal sections, we can use them as mobile eezo mining platforms as well as eezo refinery plants."

"How many Ark Ships do we have?" Nick asked.

"The twenty-five that carried the fifth wave a survivors are the same twenty-five that carried the other four waves. The plan was always to keep making back and forth trips until the war ended the way we all knew it would. The problem was that we lost Earth right as the fifth wave was leaving. You were there… you know what happened."

"Doctor McKay, your people are responsible for so many things I don't think they'll get the recognition for that they deserve. I thank you and your men on the behalf of all the people you saved," Nick said.

It was a compliment, sure, but it was one Rodney knew he did not deserve. After all, he was one of the few left alive who knew the truth. The truth that would never be told to anyone least humanity falls apart because of it.

"How do you want to proceed?" Admiral Hackett asked.

"We'll need to set up eezo mining operations as soon as possible. That one element is the key to everything. We'll also need a scouting a force to map out the Relay Network and conduct scans of the neighboring systems. Maybe we'll get lucky and find the aliens before they find us. Then first contact happens on our terms," Nick replied.

"What type of scouting force are we talking about?"

"We'll start them off with three Frigates and expand it if we need to. I'm appointing Colonel Mitchell as the CO of the taskforce and assigning what men we can spare. Any other suggestion?" Nick asked.

"We should go ahead and give them one, if not both, of the Prothean surveyor ships we got form Mars. Their sensors are far more advanced and the systems have already been translated over to English so your people won't have any trouble operating them. Also, it's not like we can use them for anything but cargo hauling right now, and the Ark Ships are bigger anyway," McKay suggested.

"Good idea," Hackett agreed.

"We'll call them… Taskforce Cerberus just so we have something to put in the reports. I'll clear that with Parliament then we can start searching for more element zero to supplement out none-existent supplies. Are there any other matters that need to be brought to the attention of the Parliament?"

"We just colonized twenty-two planets, Mister President. There are more matters to be brought to your concern than you want to know about. To ease your worry, I'll address the most pressing matters currently afflicting our people. The first thing you need to know about is the incident that happened during the first wave of launches. Thirteen of the Ark Ships experienced a breach of varying degrees in their eezo cores. The crews were exposed to eezo dust as the element was pumped through the life-support filters. We've already documented over seventy five cases of people suffering from eezo sickness on each of the thirteen ships," McKay began.

"What's going to happen to them?" Nick asked in a worried tone.

"Of the nine-hundred-seventy-nine confirmed cases of eezo exposure, we estimate that eighty-seven of them will die within a few months."

"And the rest of them?" Hackett asked.

"They're… developing powers for a lack of a better term. I've already taken the liberty of cross-referencing this form of evolution with what the Protheans called the 'Cosmic Imperative.' If I cut out all of the crap, it basically says that evolution is the rule of the cosmos. Further research revealed this affliction to be known as 'biotics.' According to the Prothean Codex, it allows the afflicted to develop telekinetic abilities. In other words, they'll be able to move stuff with their minds. They'll be able to do everything from moving people and objects to stopping bullets once they're trained well enough."

"How the hell do we train them to use something we've never seen before?" Nick asked.

"The Protheans had a rigorous training regimen set up for their biotics, also present in the Codex. We can adjust it to suit our needs."

"Is there anything the Protheans didn't give us?"

"Yes, Mister President, they did not give us any reason or clue as to how, why, or when they decided to up and disappear. Do you want to know my best guest?"

"I'm not sure. Is it going to make it easier for me to sleep at night?"

"No, Mister President, it most definitely will not."

"Hit me anyway."

"I believe they met someone or something larger and greater than they were. Be it a joint rebellion from their slave-states or a power they had never seen before, the Protheans were wiped out by something incomprehensively powerful."

"A force great enough to wipe out a galactic empire?" Hackett mused. "We should start getting ready to face that."

"How do you ready yourself to face something like that?" Rodney asked.

"With a force larger and greater than anything anyone can throw at us. We'll keep a steady expansion rate for the colonies and the navy as a whole. By the end of my term in office, we should have at least two of the fleets I have planned out built and crewed. That will give us the means to defend ourselves," Nick replied.

"Due to the extensive setup the Mars Expedition laid out for you, you also have seven levels of to the new Systems Alliance Marine Corps. We're calling them the 'N' Divisions. It starts with N1 as your basic infantry and works its way up to the N7s who are your… Navy Seals, Army Rangers, or Marine Force Recon for lack of a better term. They've been training to fight aliens on all fronts for the past fifteen years. They should serve us well if we ever meet the Protheans," McKay added.

"Damn. You really did think of everything," Nick remarked.

"We did enough to get nine-million people off of Earth. Your largest colonies have populations nearing half a million, your smallest colonies have a population nearing four-hundred-thousand. I think the oldest person alive right now is in their late fifties, early sixties and the youngest is probably around the age of ten or something along those lines."

"And I say again. You really did think everything."

**Terra Renatus (Orbit)**

*_SSV Prometheus_ (CIC) [two days later]*

The _SSV Prometheus_ was no ordinary ship. No sir, the _Prometheus_ was the largest and most lethal ship in the Systems Alliance's small fleet. After all, it is their only Prothean Cruiser. The man given command of this ship by the Admiral in charge of their fleet was a promising young captain by the name of Kyle Vega. He was a bright young lad with a promising future and a keen mind for battle tactics. Normally Admiral Hackett would be sitting in the command chair with the Captain as his XO. Today, however, the Admiral was caught up in planning out the fleet expansions. Due to this, it was Kyle who was on duty when the strangest thing happened.

"Sir, we're picking up an IFF coming from the surface," the helmswoman, a lovely young female by the name of Kimberly Aguirre, reported.

"Who's broadcasting it?" Kyle asked.

"That's strange," the woman replied as she shifted the holo-screens before around. "It's coming from beneath the surface. The computers are registering it as Prothean in origin. Sir, I think we might've found another Prothean bunker."

"Contact Terra High Command, let the Admiral know what's going on. The last time we found one these things it saved us all from certain destruction. Who knows, maybe this one will let us reclaim Earth," Kyle ordered.

"Earth is gone, Captain," Kimy replied. "We all saw what happened. The sensors weren't blinded until the end. Over a hundred nukes leaves Earth a radioactive wasteland. There is no going back."

"Come on, Kimy," Kyle said as he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I didn't bring my boy out here to lose hope. You shouldn't give up either."

"Admiral Hackett's on the line," Kimy replied, blowing of his comment as she patched the Admiral through.

"_What's going on up there, Captain?"_ Hackett asked as his image appeared on one of the screens in the CIC.

"We've detected something below the surface that giving off a Prothean IFF. We think…" Kyle began after giving the Admiral a salute.

"Sir, it's not a bunker!" Kimy interrupted as she finally finished checking the IFF against the ship's computers.

"Then what is it?" Kyle asked.

"Sir… it's… it's a ship."

"_You sound unsure,"_ Hackett pointed out.

"Sir, the mountain range to the north of the main settlement, you've seen it, right?" Kimy asked.

"_Every time I look out of a window. What about it?"_

"It's not a mountain range… Sir, it's a five-kilometer Dreadnought of Prothean design."

"_Come again, Major. It sounded like you just said the entire mountain range is a ship."_

"By the Gods!" Kyle exclaimed as he looked over Kimy's shoulder. "Sir… you heard right. It's a five-kilometer Dreadnought, and it's giving off some damned strange readings."

"_Get me the President,"_ Hackett ordered to someone 'off-screen' on his side of the call.

A second later and the President appeared on screen with the easily recognizable form of Colonel Mitchell beside him. _"What's going on, Admiral?"_ Nick asked.

"Sir," Kimy replied as she snapped off a crisp salute. "We've detected a Prothean ship buried beneath the surface of Terra. You're going to want to get Doctor McKay on the line as soon as possible."

**Terra Renatus (Surface)**

*Buried Prothean Super Dreadnought (Airlock) [three weeks later]*

Finally, after three weeks of digging, the drill came to a grinding halt as it hit something too dense for it to break through. The drill itself had taken a few days to deliver from one of the Titanium mines in the nearby system in which the planet of Eden Prime was located.

"How do we get in?" one of the drill operators asked.

"With the proper authorization codes, of course," Doctor McKay replied as his arm was suddenly encased in an orange gauntlet.

"What the fuck is that?" the operator asked in surprise.

"The Protheans called it an 'Omni-tool.' It's like having a supercomputer strapped to your forearm," McKay explained as a hiss filled the tunnel they were in and the outer door began to open. "All aboard that's coming aboard!" McKay declared as he entered the airlock. Immediately the rest of the surviving members of the Mars Expedition followed the man into the airlock accompanied by the few guards that were also from the Mars Expedition and in on their secret. This search of the ship was to double as a secret meeting. "Everyone knows why we're here, correct?" McKay asked.

"To discuss our sins," one of the guards, a young Lieutenant by the name of Jesse Sampson, replied.

"To put it… inelegantly, yes. I've already informed our first President of all but a few of our cover stories. Of course, to him, they're truths. I feel like it's only a matter of time before someone figures out that the Ark Ships were only launched once, so we need to get to their navigational computers and alter the records before that can happen. For now the story of the eezo cores leaking is holding to explain the biotics that are popping up all over Systems Alliance Space, but, again, we'll need to falsify the records to support our stories," McKay said as they walked through the halls of the massive ship.

"How did they end up being biotics anyway? I thought we were certain not to create any super Humans?" Raddick asked.

"It was the Matrix," Rodney replied in a tone of disgust. "The last person the Protheans used the Matrix to clone was a biotic. Imagine the device as a room with over one-hundred light switches, each one turning on a different light. Putting it that way, we didn't notice when the 'eezo exposure switch' wasn't turned off. The first thousand or so clones we made were all exposed to eezo dust in the machine and came out as biotics. We've already lost more than twenty of the original batch of clones. With nearly a hundred afflicted adversely, we'll lose so many people to such a simple mistake."

"I know that we were all against the clones in the first place, but, if the population gets too small, we **did** bring the Matrix with us. It's still set up on Elysium because that was the last planet we colonized with clones. If it becomes prudent, we might not have a choice in the matter, though you do have to admit that, without the clones setting everything up for us, this operation would've failed before it began," Chuck, another one of the scientists, pointed out.

"I'll pretend you didn't just say that, and you can pretend that I'm not close to ordering someone to shoot you," McKay replied as he ground his teeth. He wasn't mad at the man, he was mad at the fact that the idea was a solid idea. "The clones must never know they're clones and the natural born Humans must never come to question if they're clones or not. Our objective is the survival of the Human race as a whole. That now includes the clones that we made. Thanks to the Matrix, not only did we 'save' entire 'families,' but we were also able to give each one a completely believable history and a set of memories to match. Nobody will ever know what really happened on Mars."

"Hail the phoenix," Raddick said sadly.

"Hail the phoenix," the others, with the exception of Rodney, echoed in a similar tone.

*New Vancouver (Capital Building)*

"This meeting of the Systems Alliance Parliament is called to order," Doctor Elizabeth Weir declared. "Representative Woolsey of the colony Mindoir, you have the floor.

"Today, my fellow Representatives, we must call to attention our population demands and statistics," Richard Woolsey said as he stepped up to the podium in the middle of the circular room. "I have run the numbers on my own world, and have developed the information requested of us by the President. The youngest member of the colony of Mindoir is a young boy, age ten. The oldest member of the colony of Mindoir is a man, age forty. The statistics for age population put the average age of a Mindoirian Colonist at roughly thirty-two. That leaves us with a high population of adults that are in, or entering the breeding stage of their lives. Already I have heard from the courts that there are several couples requesting marriage licenses. We need to rebuild that system now so that all marriages on one colony are valid on them all."

"Representative Woolsey is correct, and, as I have said before, we no longer have the luxury of hate," Nick agreed. "Discrimination is just hate with a fancy title. We must come together as a society, and, to do that, we must accept love in all of its forms."

"You are proposing that we allow same-sex marriages," Doctor Weir more stated than asked.

"We allowed our blind devotion to religious matters to corrupt us on Earth. We fought more wars over religion then we did over power or resources. That must change here and now. Already I can tell you that every colony must be free to worship any god or gods they believe in. All religions must be allowed to exist in the Systems Alliance, but no religious intolerance will be accepted. I will not allow a repeat of the events that transpired on September Eleventh, Two-thousand-one. Terrorism justified under articles of religious text will result in the persecution of all those involved to the full extent of the law. We cannot afford to have anymore religious nut-jobs killing what's left of our people just because they believe in a different god. Religious tolerance and extremists are two entirely different things. The United States government did not negotiate with terrorists. I propose we adopt the same policy into the Systems Alliance Parliament."

"That can easily be agreed to, Mister President. I don't believe any of us here are willing to allow our people to live in fear of our own," Representative Carl Levin of Elysium said.

"I do not object to same-sex marriages based off of religious arguments," Representative Tim Scott of Harvest cut in. "I wish only to point out that our population is small and needs to expand to assure the survival of our species. Same-sex marriages do not allow for this."

"No, they don't, but they allow for something else," the President replied. "We need to keep the people happy, and we didn't really care who we took with us from Earth as long as they could help us rebuild. That means that there are bound to be same-sex couples already present in the population. If we tell them that they can't be happily married to the one they choose because we need people to make babies, then we're reducing the entire population to nothing more than a massive breeding machine. That isn't what we want. We don't have the proper facilities set up yet to handle a large number of births. We have to make more medication and pain killers to increase the survival rate of the parties involved.

"Before we start worrying about rapid expansion, we need to worry about overall happiness while we prepare ourselves for that expansion. If we encourage everyone to start conceiving as fast as possible, we'll have a very large number of children born all at once. Progress is not instant, it takes time. Allow the public, **all** of the public, to be happy now and it'll create fewer problems in the future."

"A very valid point," Scott agreed. "Very well then, any same-sex marriage allowed on another colony shall be valid on Harvest."

"And on Arcadia."

"As well as on Reach, though we do need to discuss our position. As you all know, Reach is the single most mineral rich planet in the Systems Alliance. Our mining operations are fueling the development front across the entirety of our territory. We can, however, do more. Reach is isolated and located deep within our territory. The only known way to reach the planet is through the Relay that connects Reach to Chi Rho, Chi Rho to Bliss, Bliss to Harmony, Harmony to Plains of Ida, Plains of Ida to Arcadia, Arcadia to Shanxi, and Shanxi to the rest of the galaxy at large. That's a total of seven Relays that must be crossed before Reach is threatened by any hostile force outside of the Systems Alliance and the way through Harvest is longer still. With those two colonies being our outermost on opposite sides of Alliance Territory, Reach is well defended," Chris Murphy of Reach said.

"With Reach being our most mineral rich planet, it would be prudent to set up our military production headquarters there. We already have the mining equipment, construction facilities, and materials needed to create the dry-docks that would be required to expand the fleet. Building it all at Reach would save us time in shipping materials to the shipyards throughout our territory."

"Before anyone else says anything," Woolsey interrupted the other Representatives before they could agree to the plan. "I'm not entirely sure how well the civilian population of Reach will handle having such a large military target on their backs due to the work being done there."

"As our richest mining world, Reach already has a large target on its back," Weir of Shanxi replied. "With our military production capacity and dry-docks also located in the system, Reach would only be better defended because of their presence. I agree with Representative Murphy's proposition."

"I'll admit, I was inclined to agree with Representative Woolsey before you put it that way, Representative Weir. I must cast my vote in favor of the plan to make Reach our military capital. This actually works out well as it also separates the military from the Parliament. With the Systems Alliance Parliament situated on Terra Renatus and the Systems Alliance Navy situated on Reach the two are viewed as separate, though united in our common cause. All in favor of this plan?" Nick asked.

***Sato Nebula (Epsilon Indi)***

**Harvest (Orbit)**

*_SSV Tet_ (CIC)*

"And you said your ship detected a powerful eezo field while exploring the other system?" Ryan asked the man on his screen.

"_Yes, Colonel. The helmswoman reported an eezo field strong enough to be detected from several light years away. Naturally I assumed it was a Relay and turned around out of fear of running into unknowns,"_ the man replied.

"Very wise of you, Captain. We'll investigate the signature as soon as a contingent of warships arrives from other posting throughout Alliance Territory. The _Prometheus_ will make orbit with a small Frigate wolf-pack in a matter of hours. We won't risk encountering aliens until we know that Harvest is defended against any hostile intentions. Sit tight, Captain, your vessel will be needed to help defend the planet."

"_Ark Ships aren't warships, Colonel."_

"No, they aren't, but they are equipped with a rather extensive point defense system and a hull that's stronger than the armor on our Frigates. The very presence of such a large ship alone could detour any violent intentions. As I've said, we have a few hours to prepare. Run a check of all of your systems and standby at Condition One until ordered otherwise. _Tet _actual out."

"Sir," the Colonel's navigator said. "The _IBN Kupe_ has a lock on the target."

"Status report," Mitchell ordered as another comms channel came online.

"_It's a Relay alright,"_ the CO of the Prothean surveyor ship replied. _"Primary Relay judging by its size and inactive according to its power levels. Either the race in that system hasn't discovered their Relay yet, or the systems uninhabited."_

"Understood. Prepare the taskforce for an FTL jump to the edge of the system. We'll get a more accurate reading before proceeding. I want the barriers raised the moment we reach the system and I want the GARDIAN array on standby. Don't arm the main weapons unless we suspect hostilities. Let's not take the risk that any aliens present can detect the power build up and assume we're hostile," Mitchell ordered. "I'd rather not take three Frigates and a pair of surveyor ships up against an enemy force without more knowledge."

"Aye sir," the navigator replied as she walked off to calculate the coordinates.

***Local Cluster (New Hope)***

**Terra Renatus (Surface)**

*New Vancouver (Terra High Command)*

"What are we looking at, Doctor?" Admiral Hackett asked as a holographic image of the Prothean ship appeared in his holo-tank.

"_Best I can tell, this thing's still largely intact. The only problem with is that it landed and it wasn't designed to. My best guest is that the ship was attacked and forced into the atmosphere. When gravity started pulling on something this big, no pilot in the world would've been able to compensate for it. The eezo core could only reduce the mass by so much and they had to maintain their barriers to survive the attack. I'm assuming they ended up destroying their attackers then diverting enough power to the core to soften a certain death landing enough to turn it into a rough crash,"_ McKay replied.

"So the ship is useless?"

"_Not at all,"_ Raddick replied. _"We can study it, adapt its technology. The power core alone is worth studying and the weapons could be invaluable."_

"_As for digging it up… well, I think that this ship crashed around the same time that the Protheans up and vanished. If that's true, then the only reason they didn't recover it was because their fleets were already pretty much gone. On impact, the ship dug a huge trench that buried the front half. After fifty-thousand years, the rest was either covered by rocks or purposefully buried by someone, or something,"_ Rodney added.

"Why would someone burry it?"

"_The hull of this ship is about twenty times stronger than the hull of the _Prometheus_. It's possible that, if the Protheans were the ones to burry it, they literally __**couldn't**__ destroy it so they buried to keep anyone from finding it. It would've worked, too. If we hadn't of had the Prothean ships to detect this one's IFF, we never would've known it was here,"_ Rodney replied.

"What are our options?"

"_We'll need to dig it up, obviously, and the best way to do that would be to bombard the mountain range until the ship is free,"_ Raddick said.

"_Before you freak-out, we'll only need to fire about… sixteen rounds into the mountain at certain points. Hitting the fault lines will cause the mountain to crumble. After that, we can dig it out. The settlement is far enough away from the mountain that they'll be fine and the resulting seismic disturbances can be absorbed by the Dreadnought's own kinetic barrier so there won't be any earthquakes or anything of that sort. It'll take us a large crew to get it done, but we can have the ship out of the mountain and in space inside of the decade,"_ Rodney explained.

"Send me a copy of the Prothean Codex. I wanna read this thing for myself," Hackett ordered.

***Sato Nebula (System Name: Unknown)***

**Outer Edge**

*_SSV Tet_ (CIC)*

The _SSV Tet_ and her accompanying taskforce dropped out of FTL at the edge of the unnamed system, their barriers raised, defenses ready, and sensors searching for anything even remotely threatening. Several minutes crept by in relative silence as the crews of the ships did their jobs. That silence was finally broken by the taskforce's CO.

"Status report," Colonel Mitchell ordered.

"I can confirm that the Relay is definitely dormant," the helmsman replied.

"I've got nothing threatening on sensors," the tactical officer added.

"It's not threatening, but it is interesting," the navigator said. "I'm picking up the wreckage of a ship in orbit of one of the gas giants in the system. As far as I can tell, it's not a recent addition to the scenery."

"Get me _Battuta_ Actual," Mitchell ordered.

"Comms ready, sir," the helmsman reported.

"Captain, what can you make of the wreckage?" Mitchell asked.

"_Our sensors indicate another Prothean vessel. Looks like whoever they were fighting caught them while they were discharging their drive core,"_ the Captain replied.

"Dreadnought sized vessels have to retract their sensors when they discharge their drive cores or risk overloading the systems," the navigator added to clear up the Colonel's confusion.

"Anything useful present in the wreckage?"

"_Well, it looks like the ship is mostly just debris, but we are detecting a signal that could very well be the Prothean equivalent of a black box,"_ _Battuta_ Actual replied.

"I want the _Battuta_ standing by on full sensors alert while the _Kupe_ moves to investigate the source of the signal. The _Lexington_ and _Concord_ are to stand guard of the _Battuta_ while the _Tet_ moves with the _Kupe_ to lend emergency support," Mitchell ordered.

"What about the Relay, sir?" the helmsman asked.

"We'll deal with it after we've secured this system," Mitchell replied as his taskforce started moving.

***Local Cluster (New Hope)***

**Terra Renatus (Surface)**

*New Vancouver (Terra High Command) [five years later]*

"I hear you got re-elected. Congratulations," a voice in the corner of the room spoke as Nick entered the heavily fortified bunker.

"If you make a habit of doing that, I'm going to put a tracer in you that alerts me the second you get within two-hundred feet of me," Nick replied as he stepped up to the holo-tank that dominated the center of the war room. "How fairs Cerberus?"

"On average, we are able to open, explore, and close one Relay every four months. As such, we've expanded the Alliance's influence over fifteen new systems, though we have only claimed five of them. Of those five, four are rich in eezo and several other minerals that have contributed massively to the expansion effort. I believe Admiral Hackett has already informed you of the status of your new ships," Colonel Mitchell replied as he stepped up beside Nick.

"Yes, he has. The _Kilimanjaro_ and _Aconcagua_ are scheduled to launch within the month. Our first two Dreadnoughts are almost ready to fly. An exciting prospect," Nick as he looked over the holographic image of what the Dreadnoughts would look like.

"We have indeed come far in the past five years. Thanks in no small part to you and Admiral Hackett."

"Don't forget Rodney. Without him, we'd all be dead."

"Indeed. The Doctor's death was most unfortunate. I understand his son was put into foster care?"

"No, the son of one of the most pivotal Humans in our history will not be stuck in a foster care system that's worse here than it was on Earth. We're still working out the kinks in the system and now that it's an interplanetary system there are a lot kinks. He was actually taken in by the Shepard family."

"Shepard? The family with one of our most promising young biotics?"

"That's another thing we have going right for us. The Protheans certainly did set us up for success whether they meant to or not. Gagarin Station's already been completed and the students are doing well. We're still having a bit of trouble adjusting the Prothean amps to Human physiology, but, again, that's actually going smoothly if still slowly. We've already drafted plans for the L4 implants and given most of the BAaTs the L3s. There's not a lot of performance upgrade potential, but they're guaranteed to stop the migraines the L2s are having. As for the L4s… I hear they're game changers."

"Our reliance on the Protheans disturbs me greatly."

"Why? What's wrong?"

"The Protheans vanished without a trace. Your best man insisted that they were wiped out by a superior force. Doctor Raddick agreed. Most of the Mars Expedition did as well. We cannot continue to use technology that has already proven conquerable. We must branch out and find new things that will prepare us for what lies ahead."

"And what does lie ahead?" Nick asked.

"We have been lucky so far in that we have not yet encountered aliens. However, the reason I called you here today is because Cerberus has found something," Mitchell replied as he pressed a few buttons on him Omni-tool. The holographic image of the _Kilimanjaro_ Class Dreadnoughts disappeared and was replaced by a planet with a small blip in orbit. "The wreckage of a ship not of Prothean design was found in a system past the Relay found near Shanxi. We were deep in uncharted territory when we found this. The bodies inside were insectoid."

"Space-faring insects?" Nick asked in disbelief. "Make sure we lock down that Relay."

"I already have. I also had Gabriella and Derek look over their physiology. They're hive-minded, intelligent, and were attacked by a force that was not of their own kind."

"You're assuming that based off of the fact that hive-minded creatures all suffer when one dies and therefore would not harm their own. A very good assumption that raises more questions than it answers."

"Such is the nature of life. The longer you live, the more you learn. The more you learn, the clearer it becomes that you do not know everything."

"So there are forces out there hostile to intelligent insects. That doesn't necessarily mean they're hostile to us. The insects might have done something to provoke the attack. However, I want the fleet expansion accelerated. I don't want to risk any lives when we really can't afford to lose them," Nick said as he activated the bunker's communications equipment. As the comms channel stabilized, Nick said, "Good morning, Admiral. How goes the expansion?"

"_We're actually ahead of schedule right now thanks to the resources Cerberus's been finding and the methods of production the Protheans left behind in the Codex. We've already completed Second Fleet. Third Fleet is two years out from being finished. Fourth Fleet and Fifth Fleet are roughly four years out from completion, and, in five years, First Fleet will be complete and the scheduled expansion of our forces will be done. I assume you'll add more work to that before we're finished though,"_ Hackett replied.

"Not at all, Admiral. The Navy's hogged the bulk of our ship-grad resources for the past five years. We barely have enough cargo ships running around Alliance Space to keep the food from Harvest getting to its destination before it spoils. We need more cargo haulers and freighters before I worry too much about another fleet expansion. How goes the equipping of the ground forces?"

"_The facilities on Onyx have been producing small arms and armor for our marines for the past four years, but we keep making breakthroughs that render the old equipment obsolete. With ships, it's easy enough to install the needed upgrades…"_ Hackett began.

"With ground forces, we have to recollect the existing parts, swap them out, and recycle the old stuff," Nick finished. They had had this conversation three times before now. "Maybe we should just equip who we have with what we have then let the labs catch up to the Navy."

"The better option would be to have the labs adjust the armor systems to be as easily upgradable as ships are. If they mass produce the armor frames in a way that the barrier generators, magnetic weapon holders, and custom modifications can easily be switched out by even the most uneducated soldier, then the more educated could solve whatever problems they're having with their armor and for their squad. This would allow us to produce the armor itself in bulk while upgrading only the barrier generators and other such equipment as improvements are made. By not having to switch out the entire armor system, we would save millions in money as well as materials," Colonel Mitchell suggested.

"Why didn't we think of that?" Nick asked rhetorically.

"Because you assigned both Gabriella and Derek to Cerberus. They have been producing Cerberus's armor for the past three years. Their designs are as I just suggested yours be. In this way, Cerberus has managed to improve our systems without exceeding our allowed budget," Mitchell replied nevertheless.

"_Maybe we should recall those two and get them working for us again,"_ Hackett suggested.

"I would, but they're the last two surviving members of the Mars Expedition and our experts on the Protheans. We need them out there telling us more about the aliens we have yet to encounter," Nick countered.

"Cerberus's fleet is equipped with the same FTL array that allows you to speak to the Admiral

from here. Gabriella has also installed one of the FTL comm buoys in the hangar deck of the _Tet_. We are capable of communicating with Terra from anywhere within three non-Alliance systems of Harvest or Shanxi. You are always free to contact them via radio to discuss issues with the fleet," Mitchell pointed out.

"And again, we should've thought of this!"

"_Don't worry, Mister President, that's what advisors are for,"_ Hackett said with a chuckle.

****Alliance Naval Codex: Tier 4 Access Required****

***Primary Codex Entry***

**Starships**

*Frigates*

Alliance Frigates are light escort and scouting vessels. They have extensive GARDIAN systems to provide anti-fighter/anti-missile screening for capital ships, have a dual barreled main weapon to allow for rapid fire of weaker rounds, measure in at two-hundred to two-hundred-fifty meters, and carry a squad of marines for security and groundside duty. Unlike larger vessels, Frigates are able to land on planets with ease.

Alliance Frigate drive systems allow them to achieve high FTL cruise speeds allowing them to respond to distress calls at a moment's notice. They also have proportionally larger thrusters and lighter design mass, allowing them to maneuver more handily. In combat, speed and maneuverability make a Frigate immune to the long-range fire of larger vessels. In the time it takes projectiles to reach them, Frigates are no longer where they were predicted to be.

In fleet combat, Frigates are organized into "wolf pack" flotillas of four to six. Wolf packs speed through enemy formations, hunting enemy vessels whose kinetic barriers have been taken down by fighter-launched Disruptor Torpedoes. The wolf packs circle-strafes vulnerable targets, using their superior speed and maneuverability to evade return fire.

Alliance Frigates are based off of modified Prothean surveyor ships found on Mars during World War III. The Systems Alliance, then the Mars Expedition, redesigned the ships to fit their needs. As such, Alliance Frigates were designed to work in pairs to assault any hostile. With their knowledge of Prothean diplomacy, the Mars Expedition readied their small fleet of Frigates for a fight against a superior force. Due to this, Alliance Frigates have eezo cores and barriers on par with Prothean Cruiser designs. This allows the small ships to pack as much punch as larger ship with all the maneuverability of a Frigate.

Alliance Frigates are named for great battles in Human history.


	4. Shanxi Part 1 Innocence Lost

Chapter 2

Shanxi Part 1

_Innocence Lost_

***Morte Nebula (Guerra System)***

**Shanxi-Theta Relay (Orbit)**

*_Ngee Khiong_ (Bridge) [two years later]*

"_Attention approaching craft. Usage of Relays leading outside of Systems Alliance Territory is strictly restricted to military vessel access only. This is for your own protection. You are not safe outside of Alliance Territory. There is no guarantee that you will not encounter hostile alien life-forms. Remember, we did not build the Mass Relays. It is believed the Protheans were responsible for this feat, though modern information suggests otherwise. This only serves as more proof that aliens exist. You must remember that the Protheans were evil conquers who enslaved all the races they came across…"_ the automated VI began before the Captain of the ship shut off the comms with a flick of a holographic switch.

"Damned military. Always keeping all the damned resources to themselves," the Captain muttered as his and an additional two cargo ships lined up the Relay in preparation for the jump.

"Captain, what are we supposed to do if they're not lying about what's out there?" the navigator asked. "We don't even have GARDIAN cannons on these ships."

"That's because the Alliance Navy hogs all of the resources needed to create stuff like that. They want to keep us in the dark so that we can't fight back," the Captain replied with a snarl.

"Who did you vote for President then? Obama?"

"Who else? He's the only one who truly knows what we need."

"You're kidding right?" the pilot asked as she turned around in her seat to face her superior. "He ran a smear campaign. Who does that these days?"

"That's just what this administration wants you to believe. They've been keeping stuff from us since day one," the Captain spat back.

"Right, and that would be why we've had seven years of peaceful development without anyone dying from murder, assault, war, or anything else like that. Admit it, this administration saved us from certain destruction and everyone knows that. Once the fleets that protect us are done being built, the President has already drafted up a massive increase in civilian sector production. In another three years, we'll have five fleets protecting Alliance Territory from anything bad and we'll be back to expanding," the navigator argued as the Relay activated the flung them through space.

"I just want to go ahead and point out that nobody's out here. If we run into trouble, the entirety of the Alliance Navy is jumps away from us," the pilot pointed out.

"There's not going to be anything out here but empty space with lots of resources. We'll set up our own mines and start making enough money to be rich as fuck! We'll be able to retire to a mansion on the beaches of Arcadia with money to blow like it's nobody's business! Cause it won't be," the Captain gloated as they began to slow back into normal space.

"You can have your Arcadian beaches. Personally, I'm moving to Terra Nova," Luis, one of the bridge crew in the back, said.

"It'll be Eden Prime for me, boys," another added.

"Is that an invite, Mary?" Luis asked. His question earned him a slap in the back of the head as they dropped out of FTL in a new system.

"For what it's worth, our barriers are up and at full," the pilot reported.

"Why? We won't need them out here," the Captain replied.

"Well, this a boring system. There aren't any mineral deposits worth mentioning and the ones that we don't have the resources to mine," the navigator said.

"Then take us to the next Relay and let's see what the next system has in store for us," the Captain ordered.

"Damn, this Relay's locked down tight. It's got a military level VI encryption the likes of which I've never seen before. They've definitely updated their operating systems since the last time we came out here," Luis said as he tried to access the Relay.

"How long, Luis?" the Captain asked.

"If I'm lucky, a few hours. If I'm not, we're talking days," Luis replied as she typed away at his station.

"Great, just fucking great. See what I mean? The military's probably got a huge mine out there they're trying to keep us from getting anything out of. And you wanna stand there and defend those assholes."

"Technically I'm sitting," the pilot growled back. "How do we know that the Relay isn't locked down for a good reason? There could be something really bad on the other side. Why don't we try the Relay in the next system over? It might not be locked down which means it might be safe, or, at least, safer than going through one that was locked down for a reason."

"Their determination to keep us out only makes me more determined to get through," the Captain replied.

"And if everyone had that mentality then we would be breaking down dams for no reason other than 'the man's' intention to keep the water makes me want to let it go. If we did that to the Hoover Damn Two on Plains of Ida, the entire western section of the main settlement would be flooded worse than Britain was when the first wave of nukes on Earth started those massive tsunamis. Think bout this, Captain, the military isn't stupid. They wouldn't just lock down a Relay without a good reason!"

"Somebody get her off of my bridge!" the Captain ordered.

"Sir," the navigator interrupted. "She's the only pilot we have. You fired the other one, remember?"

***Cluster Name: Unknown (System Name: Unknown)***

**Relay 314 (Orbit)**

*_Ngee Khiong_ (Bridge) [three hours later]*

"Finally!" the Captain exclaimed when the Relay finally flared to life.

"Captain!" Luis shouted over the sounds of applause.

"Good job, Luis…" the Captain began before Luis cut him off.

"I didn't do that!" the man shouted in panic. "The Relay's being activated from the other side."

"Shit, I'm getting us out of here!" the pilot declared as she turned their freighter around and punched the engines to their limits.

"What's the point? It's most likely just the military coming through with their next shipment headed for Reach," the Captain said dismissively.

"For the last time," the pilot shouted back. "The Systems Alliance does not operate outside of Alliance Territory for fear of meeting the Protheans!"

"Whoa!" Luis exclaimed in a tone of awe mixed with one of terror. "That's a big ship."

"And definitely **not** Human!" the navigator added.

"More contacts dropping out of the Relay," Mary reported. There was a boom from the audio emulators and one of the other two freighters in their group exploded in a fireball of heat and shrapnel as a mass driver round tore through minor barriers and week armor of the civilian sector ship.

"Hang on to something!" the pilot declared as she overwrote the ship's safeties and punched the accelerator so high the force of their speed slammed everyone back into their seats.

"You're gonna kill us flying like that!" the Captain grunted through the forces acting on his body.

"It's either that or killed by fucking Protheans because you decided not to listen to me!" the pilot shouted back as they hurled towards the Relay that would take them back to Shanxi. The ship following in their wake was quickly overrun by the superior speed of the Prothean Frigates chasing them. Another boom from the audio emulators signaled the death of the other freighter.

"Faster," the Captain ordered. "Faster damn it, Moreau. I said go faster!"

"I need coordinates!" the pilot shouted to the back of the bridge.

"Course plotted. Engage the FTL drive!" the navigator replied.

The _Ngee Khiong_ dropped out of FTL so close to the Relay that the pilot had to swerve the ship to keep from hitting the massive FTL station. "Jumping us back to Alliance Territory now," the pilot, one Judith Moreau, declared as the Relay activated and the _Ngee Khiong_ disappeared from the unknown system. As they once again appeared in Alliance Space, Judith immediately sent a message to Shanxi's small defensive fleet. "This is the _MSV Ngee Khiong_ to Shanxi defense control…"

"What are you doing?" the Captain asked as he closed the channel before she could say anything else.

"I'm reporting the situation!" Judith replied forcefully.

"Are you mad? They'll pin this whole thing on us!"

"It was our fault! If we don't warn them, they'll be caught unawares…"

"When what? Protheans storm the system? They're not that stupid. They'll see the ships in orbit…"

"And send a larger force to conquer us! Don't you pay attention to anything? The Protheans conquered the whole galaxy at one point and they'll gladly do it again. Now get out of my way!" Judith declared.

As she reached for the comms controls, the Captain reached out, grabbed her arm, and twisted as hard as he could. There was a snapping sound before Judith screamed in pain. "You damned cripple. You're not getting me thrown in jail over this!"

"You would rather lose the entire colony than risk your own hide? Fuck you!" Judith shouted before she slammed a throw in the Captain's face. The man's head jerked back before his entire body went limp and fell to the ground in a heap. Fighting through her pain, Judith again reached for the controls. "This is the _MSV Ngee Khiong_ to Shanxi defense control. We crossed through the Shanxi-theta Relay and attempted to open Relay 314. During our attempts to break the coding blocking out our systems, a small force of hostile ships stormed through the Relay and destroyed the other two ships in our company. Warn Terra High Command. The Protheans are coming. God forgive us."

As Judith said the last word, the Prothean Frigates stormed through Relay and opened fire. The last thing anyone aboard the _MSV Ngee Khiong_ heard through the audio emulators was one final boom as their own ship joined the others in their company in the endless fires of hell. They all knew they deserved no better for leading aliens to one of their own worlds.

***Morte Nebula (Guerra System)***

**Shanxi (Orbit)**

*_SSV Saint Luis_ (CIC)*

"Shit! The Protheans just blew up the _MSV Ngee Khiong_!" the tactical officer shouted over the noise of the CIC rushing to get ready for the fight to come.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is moment we've all been training for. Have the _Copenhagen_ and the _Pyongyang_ form up on our flanks. We're going in!" the Captain of the _Saint Luis_ ordered.

With an ease born of years of practicing, training, and readying themselves for this moment, the crew of the Geneva Class Cruiser the _SSV Saint Luis_ brought their ship to the front of their formation as the two Frigates formed up on their flanks. The distance between the small, Systems Alliance defense fleet and the small, Prothean scouting force closed fast as the two opposing sides accelerated to maximum speed. It was a battle of three Systems Alliance vessels, one Cruiser and two Frigates, versus seven Prothean vessels, two Cruisers and five Frigates. Now it was time to see if the Alliance's preparations to face the Protheans would win the day.

"Target their lead Cruiser. Ready the Disruptor Torpedoes and bring the GARDIAN array online," the Captain ordered.

"Aye sir. We're entering weapons range in three… two… one…" the tactical officer reported.

"Fire when ready." Though he sat in his command chair with air of calm about him, the Captain was anything but. If he was allowed to show fear, his fists would be clenched so tight it would've drawn blood when his finger nails cut through his hands, but he was their Captain and he had to be strong so strong he would be.

The first round to thunder out of the _Saint Luis_'s main gun impacted the Prothean Cruiser leading the charge and was stopped cold by the enemy's kinetic barrier. That was expected. The second barrel then fired its round and this one also slammed into the barrier of the enemy ship. This was also expected. When the two Frigates fired their first rounds at the ship and collapsed this barrier, this was also expected. What wasn't expected was the second rounds from both Frigates punchering the Prothean Cruiser's hull, breaching it reactor, and destroying the ship in a series of secondary explosions.

"What just happened?" the Captain asked as the fireball died out.

"Their armor gave our, sir. We must've hit them in a weakened section of the hull," the tactical officer replied.

"Switch target to the other Cruiser. How long until we're ready to fire?" the Captain asked, quickly recovering his senses.

"Weapons reloading in two seconds," the navigator replied.

"And that's why we installed two barrels on every ship," the Captain said to no one in particular as the first cannon was reloaded and ready to fire again. Before the tactical officer could fire their round, the enemy managed to get their first shot in. The slug from the enemy's cannon bounced off of the barriers of the Alliance Cruiser and tumbled harmlessly into space. "And that's why we doubled the size of the eezo cores to increase the power of the barriers. These Prothean scumbags won't know what hit them! Tactical, you're weapons free. Remove these assholes from my sight the permanent way."

"With pleasure, Captain," the tactical officer replied as their small fleet fired in tandem. The second Cruiser died in two volleys from all three ships just as the first one had. "That only leave the Frigates and we're entering knife-fight range."

"Arm the torpedoes," the Captain ordered as the Frigates flew past their viewport and fired their GARDIAN lasers at the hull of the _Luis_. Flashes of red leapt out from the _Luis_ in reply as the two Frigates in their own wolf pack broke formation to give chase to their Prothean counterparts.

"Sir, _Copenhagen_ Actual is reporting that our GARDIAN lasers are cutting through their armor like a hot knife through butter. If these are the Protheans, they're a hell of a lot weaker than the ships we found on Mars," the Captain's XO reported.

"I don't care who the hell they are. They attacked and destroyed three of our civilian ships and that is not acceptable. They didn't give our people the option of retreat. We'll show them the same kindness!" the Captain declared.

***Local Cluster (New Hope)***

**Terra Renatus (Surface)**

*New Vancouver (Terra High Command) [a few hours later]*

"_They attacked and destroyed three civilian freighters that were attempting to activate Relay 314. Best we can tell, the civvies were trying to set up a mining operation out in unclaimed space. A 'get rich quick' scheme that got them all killed and alerted the Protheans to our presence,"_ the Captain of the _SSV Saint Luis_ reported.

"You reported that their barriers and armor were weaker than known Prothean designs?" Nick asked.

"_Yes, Mister President. I'm not entirely sure they're Prothean, but I don't really care either. They attacked my world, killed my people, and I won't stand for that!"_

"_Calm down, Captain, this isn't a performance review. We're just trying to get an accurate reading on the situation so we know what we're up against. If their barriers and armor are weaker than what we found on Mars, then we have the advantage of power despite their obvious advantage in numbers. If the hostiles managed to report back to wherever it is they're from, then it's likely their chain of command will send a larger fleet, to either investigate their disappearance, or conquer the ones who destroyed their ships,"_ Admiral Hackett placated the man.

"We'll need to mobilize a force to Shanxi to safeguard the colony," Nick agreed. "What are our options, Admiral?"

"_I can have Second Fleet in the system by the end of the week,"_ Hackett replied.

An alarm blared in the background of their conversation and the emergency lights in the CIC of the _Luis_ started flashing. _"Shit! They're back!"_ the Captain swore before his video shook. _"Is that… shit! They brought a Dread…"_ Static.

"Captain!" Nick shouted. "Admiral, one of our colonies is being attacked. I need anything you can get me and I need it now!"

"_Second Fleet's all we've got available and they're six relays and ten FTL jumps out. It'll take us till the end of the week to get a force large enough to conquer a Dreadnought, Prothean or not, to Shanxi. I'm sorry, Mister President, but that can't be helped."_

"You're telling me we have to just sit here an hope the colony holds? Colonel, ready Cerberus!" Nick ordered.

"At once," Mitchell replied before practically running out of the room.

"_Mister President, I have to advise against that. Sending them in now could only provoke a more sever reaction from the aliens,"_ Hackett protested.

"You're objections have been noted, Admiral. However, deploying Cerberus now is the only move I have available to me. Don't worry, Colonel Mitchell has oh so very annoyingly mastered the art of sneaking up on everyone, including his allies. I have no doubt that he can land an armed force without tipping off these damned Protheans."

**Terra Renatus (Orbit)**

*_SSV Prometheus_ (CIC) [five minutes later]*

"Gabriella, you mentioned using the Secondary Relay in the Utopia system to fast track us to the outer colonies. Now would be the time," Colonel Mitchell the moment the elevator door opened to the CIC.

"Shit, boss, you gotta be kidding me! I haven't finished calculating the course needed for that. I'm weeks out from a trial run," Gabriella replied instantly.

Hitting their small fleet's battle-net, Colonel Ryan Mitchell announced, "The outer rim colony of Shanxi is being overrun by hostile alien forces. It will take five days at the minimum for Second Fleet to reinforce the colony. We're the only ones left. Get us to Shanxi!"

"I can't jump us directly into a hostile environment and expect the ship to survive combat, not after taking the type of stress involved in this maneuver the frame of the ship will be put under. However, I **can** get us to the system that connects to the Shanxi-Theta Relay. It's closer, and my maneuver will get us there straight from Eden Prime. Those calculations I can do on the way," Gabriella replied as she and the rest of the crew manned their stations. She herself went off to a quiet corner and started running the algorithms she had developed on her Omni-tool. Having a supercomputer strapped to your forearm certainly did help things along.

"Derek!" Ryan shouted to the man in the cockpit.

"Taking us out now, Colonel. Estimated transit time, five hours," the young Lieutenant replied.

The five hours it took to cross through the Relays lasted a small eternity to the crew of the Prothean Cruiser that had been added to Cerberus to supplement their firepower after the Alliance Navy had produced their own Geneva Class Cruisers. When they did finally reach the small Relay, Gabriella started broadcasting orders to the massive machine as well as the other ships in Cerberus. Outside of the _Prometheus_ the Secondary Relay turned in space until its barrel lined up with a system that it didn't connect to by design.

"Alright people, listen up. We're about to go through a Relay backwards. When we do, the timing of your deceleration maneuvers will be crucial. This thing doesn't have a Relay at the other end to slow us down, so we have to fire the FTL drives at the exact moment we reach the assigned coordinates. Get your A-Game on, people, we're going in hot!" Gabriella explained as their small fleet lined up with the Relay. True to her words, their ships were flying backwards. As the characteristic bolts of lighting struck their hulls, Cerberus's ships were flung into space at astonishing speeds.

"In three… two… one… NOW!" Gabriella ordered and the ships engaged their FTL drives. The ship rumbled around them as the superstructure was put under the stress of slowing down from speeds that were only designed to be countered by another Relay. When the streak of motion they had become finally returned to normal speeds, Gabriella quickly ordered, "Shut off the engines!" and the ship came to a grinding halt that slammed everyone forward as their inertia finally caught up to them. With a whirr of protest, the main reactor on the _Prometheus_ gave out and the lights shut off casting the ship into total darkness.

"Give it a second," Gabriella's voice said from within the darkness before her Omni-tool's light flared to life followed by several others. "The internal stress sensors were just overloaded from our rate of deceleration. The core shutdown to stop any overloads in the primary systems. We'll be back up and running in a matter of minutes."

"Worse case scenario?" Ryan asked.

"One hour tops. Nothing more," Gabriella replied.

"While we're waiting," Derek's voice joined the conversation as the man walked into the CIC from the bridge. "How do we plan on landing without getting shot down? I don't know if you've realize this or not, but Cerberus has a very limited amount of firepower."

"We'll use that," Ryan replied as he pointed out of the forward viewport. From their position orbiting one of the gas giants in the unnamed system, the Humans watched as a clearly alien ship that was clearly unarmed dropped out of the Relay. Accompanying it were a small number of other ships, one of which was lagging behind the rest by a significant margin.

"You want to slip in with a bunch of resupply ships?" Derek asked.

"No," Ryan replied. "We're going to hijack that one. Ready the fighters for launch. I don't care if you have to blow the hangar bays open, I want an assault force primed and ready for the exact moment that ship gets left behind by the others!"

***Cluster Name: Unknown (System Name: Unknown)***

**Relay 31-43-14 (Orbit)**

*_Gwandana_ (Bridge)*

"Does General Arterius not give a damn about us, or are we moving so sprits-damned slow for a reason?" the Captain of the _Gwandana_ asked to the bridge at large. "We're nearing hostile territory and we're falling behind the rest of the convoy. Do you really want these damned aliens to find us before…" the Captain was cutoff by the pilot shouting above his complaints.

"Incoming fighter swarm!"

"Evasive maneuvers!" the Captain ordered. "Radio the…" again he trailed off though this time it was because he realized they were alone, and, worse than that, they were defenseless. "Spirits preserve us," the Captain said as beams of energy cut into their armor and cut huge gouges into the armor before opening the entire ship to space. All in one pass.

*_Gwandana_ (Cargo Hold)*

Ryan drifted towards the blasted open doors of the alien cargo hauler, the jets in his EVA pack propelling him forward and into the airless abyss. Nevertheless, his armor would protect him from anything left alive in the ship. His main concern was getting out of space before cosmic radiation overpowered his personal armor's ability to keep the lethal waves of energy at bay. Behind him, also floating towards the ship by means of their EVA packs, were Gabriella, Derek and a reduced squad of N7 marines. Ryan was the first to touchdown after carefully maneuvering through the ragged edges of the of the destroyed door.

"_Careful there, boss. Those crates could be carrying explosives,"_ Derek cautioned over their battle-net as he floated through after Ryan, his assault rifle already in hand.

"_Scans read negative on explosives and life-forms,"_ Gabriella countered as she, being the noncombatant amongst the group, was the last to enter. _"I'm picking up a strange energy reading coming from a crate towards the back though. Unknown type or purpose. I advise we use caution and give it a clear berth incase it is an explosive."_

"_Get the atmospheric retention barrier in place,"_ Ryan ordered in reply.

"_Almost there, Colonel,"_ Gabriella assured him as she fiddled with a very large create that they had brought with them when they jumped. A few seconds later and the box emitted a pulse of energy and the holes in the freighter's armor were sealed by a hyper-retentive kinetic barrier. _"The ship should be re-pressurized in a few seconds,"_ Gabriella informed them as a hiss filled the air, the audio emulators on their armor allowing them to hear sounds in the absolute silence of the vacuum of space. _"That'll do it,"_ Gabriella said as she took off her helmet and took a deep breath. "Atmosphere's clean, though these aliens appear to breathe a higher concentration of oxygen than what we're used to."

"And you can tell that by **smelling** the air?" Derek asked as he took off his own helmet.

"No, dumbass, I used a scanner for that," Gabriella replied as she made her way towards the elevator. "Use your damned brain, Lieutenant. You're starting to sound a just a little uneducated for a man who graduated from the Air Force Academy."

"You're one to talk. You never even attended college," Derek snapped back.

"Pardon me for not needing a 'higher education' to be smarter than your dumbass. And besides, the college I wanted to go to was destroyed with the rest of our homeworld," Gabriella said.

"Is there never a situation that's serious enough to make you two stop fighting? Shanxi is being invaded by fucking Protheans, and you're arguing about colleges?" Hislop, one of the first N7 marines to graduate the program, snapped at the two of them.

"Watch where you're stepping!" Harper, another promising young N7, said as he reached out to grab Hislop who was walking too close to the create Gabriella had marked on their HUDs as being the source of the unknown energy signature.

Hislop tripped as Harper reached for him and reached out to steady himself. His hand made contact with the create and a pulse of blue light filled the room as a flash of lighting lashed out, traveled through Hislop to Harper who was still touching him, and shot out to strike Ryan in the chest. As the glow died down, a strange moaning noise filled their ears as the disoriented marines recovered theirselves. When they finally regained their senses, what they saw struck fear into their hearts.

Hislop and Harper had been changed into beings with glowing blue lights piercing their skin in several places and tubes sticking out where once there had been flesh and bone. "What the fuck?" Anderson shouted in shock.

In reply, the things that used to be Harper and Hislop ran at the man, their bodies glowing as a static charge built up on their bodies. Both Derek and Eva opened fire on their former comrades while Anderson, in a panic, stumbled backwards and tripped over a create. Though he was down, Anderson was anything but out. Drawing his pistol, as he had dropped his assault rifle, Anderson added his own fire to the mix, though it had no affect. The… things were still rushing him and they were closing fast.

His saving grace came from a sudden and powerful lurch that caused the things to stumble. This gave Derek enough to time to bulrush one of the things with his combat knife at the ready. Before the things could recover, Derek buried his knife, hilt deep, into the temple of one before turning to face the other. Derek ducked under the second things opening attack before delivering an uppercut to the thing's chin that sent it flying five feet into the air before crashing back down.

"You gotta be kidding me!" Derek said as both of the things rose back to their feet. One of them, knife still in its head, lurched forward and wrapped the Lieutenant in a bone crushing bear hug that his armor was hard pressed to keep form crushing his ribcage. The other one, head hanging limply from its broken neck, pulsed blue again before emitting an EMP that took out everyone's barriers. "Don't just stand there…" Derek began before both of the former Humans dropped dead as their heads rolled on the ground.

"Colonel!" Coré said, her weapon aimed at the man. "Put the knife down!" she demanded.

"Calm down, Eva," Gabriella said as she held up her Omni-tool. "He's still Human."

"Are you alright, boss?" Derek asked as he turned to face his savior.

"I'm not sure," Ryan replied, a strange edge to his tone. "I don't quite feel… myself."

"Back away," Coré ordered as she once again raised her weapon.

"Colonel," Derek said as he pulled up his Omni-tool and took a picture of the Colonel's face. "Your eyes."

"That's not good," Ryan muttered.

"I'll only say this one more time," Eva said as she refused to lower her weapon. "Back away from the Lieutenant."

"I'm…" Ryan began before another, stronger shutter made them all stumble. "It occurs to me now that nobody's piloting this ship."

"Shit!" Gabriella swore as she brought up Omni-tool again. "It's no use, I can't hack their systems fast en… oh shit!"

"What is it?" Anderson asked as he picked his assault rifle up off of the floor.

"We're on a collision course with Shanxi!" Gabriella shouted.

"How did that happen?" Derek asked.

"Who gives a rat's ass! We gotta jump!" Gabriella replied as they all began to feel the turbulence of re-entry.

"We can't let that thing reach the surface! If the Protheans brought it, they must've been planning on using it to turn the population into those… things!" Anderson countered.

"Forget about it! It'll be destroyed when the ship crashes. Right now, if we don't jump in the next three seconds, our Eva jets won't be able to soften the landing enough to not kill us!" Gabriella shouted back as she jumped out of the hole in the hangar door. The others followed her without question. Gabriella was never wrong when it came to matters of timing.

**Shanxi (Orbit)**

*_Amundsen_ (CIC)*

"General, the _Gwandana_ just crashed into the surface of the colony," the General's XO informed him.

"What!?" Desolas Arterius shouted. "How that possible?"

"The ship was heavily damaged to the point of having vented its atmosphere entirely. It must've been attacked before making it through the Relay," the XO informed him. "I have the coordinates. Should I send a rescue party?"

"No," the General practically growled. "I'll handle this myself,."

**Shanxi (Surface)**

*Xi Shan Lake (Shore) [roughly fifteen minutes later]*

"'Jump,' she says," Derek said mockingly. "'We'll be fine,' she says."

"Stop your bitching, Lieutenant. You're alive, aren't you?" Anderson snapped back. The surviving members of their team had landed in one of the deepest parts of Xi Shan Lake. It hade taken fifteen minutes for them to finally walk across the surface of the lakebed and reach the shore.

"Where is Gabriella anyway?" Coré asked.

"And the Colonel, too," Anderson said as he noticed that the duo were missing. The air around them shook violently as a trio of shuttles flew overhead on their way towards the wreckage they had only just escaped. "If that… thing survived the crash, we'll need to be sure these damned Protheans don't get their hands on it, or it'll be the end of Human life on Shanxi as we know it!"

"Then let's get moving!" Coré ordered. She wasn't in charge, not according to the chain of command, but damn that girl was hard to say no to!

"Does anyone else hear that?" Derek asked after they had ran nearly a mile in under five minutes. The wonders of modern technology made what would tire a good soldier a breeze for your standard grunt. Environmental controls in their armor wicked away sweat and kept them cool while feeding them a constant speed boost from the servomotors in their joints. "There it is again!"

"I'd know that sound anywhere," Anderson said as they ran up a hill. "That's the Colonel's lightning blade!"

Sure enough, as the three of them rounded the crest of the hill they were greeted by the sight of their fearless leader, his hand glowing blue with an electrical current as his Omni-tool pumped out enough energy to stun an elephant. Not that there were any of those left after the fall of Earth. The Mars Expedition give a rat's ass about saving the wildlife. Not when the Human race was at risk. As Ryan jumped forward and stabbed another Prothean through the chest with his lightning blade, the other three Humans opened fire on the aliens that were quickly advancing on the Colonel's position.

As the last Prothean fell to their weapons fire, Derek asked, "Does anyone else think that was too easy?"

"Protheans are supposed to be more advanced than us," Anderson agreed.

"These are not Protheans," Ryan said as he walked over to them. "They're Turians, and they copied the Protheans' technology just as we did."

"If they're not the Protheans, they must've copied their will to conquer… wait a second, how the hell do you even know what they're called when we don't speak the same damned language?" Derek asked.

"It's… hard to explain," Ryan replied. "I heard them talking and I… understood them. I also found this," Ryan said as he held up a small computer, "and I can read it."

"That's… creepy," Anderson said.

"To say the least," Coré agreed as she tightened her grip on her gun.

"What are you talking about 'creepy?' This is great! Now we can order them to surrender by actually **telling** them to surrender," Derek 'corrected' the other two.

"I'm not as sure about this as you are, Lieutenant. This is all too strange for me," Ryan replied. "However, the Lieutenant does have a point. I've identified their Commanding Officer as a General Desolas Arterius. He's personally leading the force to recover the ship's wreckage. If we capture him alive, we can force the others to surrender. Let's move!"

"We still need to find Gabriella!" Derek protested.

"When has that girl ever needed our help to do anything?" Anderson countered with a scuff. "She'll be the one who picks us up in a few hours. She always has had the most uncanny sense of timing."

"Anderson's right. We need to keep moving," Ryan ordered.

"Why will you call him 'Anderson' but you never call me anything other than 'Lieutenant'?" Derek asked.

"Because, Lieutenant, you annoy me," Ryan replied as he led the way towards the pillar of rising smoke in the distance.

*Xi Shan Lake (Crash Site)*

Another Turian was shoot down after being transformed into an uncontrollable and mindless 'Guardian' for the device that had turned it. "And you say one of the aliens came into contact with it?" Desolas asked.

"Two of them by the look of things," one of his personal scientists replied. "They reacted differently to the Arca Monolith in terms of their mutation. These bodies have shock emitters and eezo in their blood. They have barriers and EMP pulses as natural weapons. I wouldn't be surprised if they were capable of being biotics given what these two turned into. The Guardians, I mean. It's clear that just about any race can be a biotic."

"Yes, because that wasn't obvious already," Desolas snapped.

"My apologies, sir. I'm just trying to be thorough," the scientist replied in a level tone. Clearly the alien was used to his superior's harsh tones.

"Lieutenant, you and I are going to engage them at close range. Be ready," Ryan whispered to the man beside him.

"We don't have the sniper support for that type of warfare. Ben was our sniper support and he's dead!" the Lieutenant whispered back.

"Do you have a better idea then?"

"Gabriella always came up with the good plans that didn't involve my death. Why don't we just wait for her to get here?"

As if this was some magical cue, a multi-ton piece of military hardware slammed to the ground and crushed ten of the alien guards under its mass. _"Oops. Did I do that?"_ a voice that was a near perfect imitation of the old 'Steve Urkel' character asked before the main gun of the M35 Mako Infantry Fighting Vehicle swiveled into position and obliterated half of the number of remaining hostile soldiers. The secondary gun, the faster shooting of the two, then continued to fire at the retreating aliens until they were out of range. _"How do you like my ride, bitches?"_ Gabriella's voice asked over the Mako's external speakers.

"I honestly did not see that coming," Derek said as Ryan shook his head.

"Ah, Gabriella. As unpredictable as always I see," Ryan said. "I really should stop being surprised by your sense of timing."

"Well," Gabriella said as she climbed out of the Mako's hatch, "the unpredictability should be predicable by now. You should be able to predict my arrival without knowing my methods. By the way, I didn't kill them all. I figured a prisoner would be appropriate. The survivor's in the cargo bay of the freighter."

"Nice catch there, Gabriella. You cornered one of the General's scientists," Anderson said as he held the alien in question at gunpoint.

"Well," Gabriella replied with a shrug, "what can I say? When I got it…"

"You got it!" Derek said as he high-fived the short woman. "Though the General **did** get away and… shit, he took the damned device!"

"How is that even possible? Ben touched the crate and he got turned into a fucking machine!" Anderson exclaimed angrily.

"I saw a Cruiser landed on the surface a few kilometers back when we jumped ship. I'm pretty sure it's their primary staging ground," Gabriella said as she strapped a pair of electro-shock cuffs to the alien.

"The more you resist, the more pain you will feel," Ryan warned the aliens, his words being translated into text on the computer he had stolen from a dead alien.

Holding out the computer so that the alien could see it, Ryan was surprised when the man muttered to himself, "I'm surprised an ingrate like these people are able to figure out how that thing functions. Probably doesn't even know what it's holding."

"I understand you perfectly, Turian," Ryan replied, his words being written out in Turian basic for the alien to read. "You shouldn't have underestimated humanity. So long as the Turian**s** remain on Shanxi, we will fight to the last to reclaim what is ours!"

"The Hierarchy won't yield even a single mile to you. This planet might've been yours before, but now it belongs to the Hierarchy. Get used to it, vermin. You've just been made a client race," the Turian snarled in reply.

"Humanity bows to no one!" Ryan declared victoriously. "Hail the Phoenix!"

"Hail the Phoenix!" Eva replied with the full force of her will.

*Xi Shan Lake (Turian Camp Site)*

The Turian Occupation Force's main camp was comfortably set up beneath the shadow of a landed Cruiser. Lieutenant Abrudas, General Arterius' XO for the ground invasion, was waiting impatiently for his superior to report in. Just as the Lieutenant was about to call the General out of fear that he had been captured, he received a call from the man himself.

"_Abrudas, I need an evac. I recovered the artifact, but the natives took out the rest of my squad. Get me an APC over here now!"_ the General ordered as he broadcasted his coordinates.

"We're on our way, General," Abrudas replied. "The rest of you, make sure we're ready to launch at a moment's notice!"

It took Abrudas and a small line of armor nearly a Palaven hour to reach the General's location. When they did, they found the General leading a small team of… creatures wearing robes that were pulling a device behind them using chains.

"What the hell is that, General?" Abrudas asked.

"If I want you to ask a question, Lieutenant, I'll let you know which question it is you're supposed to ask and when," Desolas replied as shouldered past his subordinate, the things in robes following close behind him. "Make room in the APC for the relic. It's imperative that we get it off of this world before anymore chances at harming it are able to bear fruit. Councilor Sparatus has personally tasked me with getting this back to Palaven. Why that idiot of a General would ever send it here is beyond me. Damn Septimus and the whole Oraka bloodline for his stupidity!"

At that moment, their comms were filled with static as someone tried, and failed, to contact them through some type of distortion field. It took a few seconds for the superior hardware of the Turian Hierarchy to break through the jamming field the primitives were putting up, but, in the end, the Hierarchy **always** wins.

"_We're under heavy attack!"_ the voice of a Turian shouted over their battle-net. _"The damned natives brought tanks… we're being overrun!"_

"Damn it!" Abrudas swore. "Get in the damned Cruiser and get over here…" the Lieutenant began before a loud boom filed the air and one of the Turian tanks exploded. The source of the fire was made clear when a trio of what had to pass as tanks for these primitive natives crested the hill in the distance. "Double time that evac!" Abrudas ordered as she readied his Phaeston.

"Wait," Desolas ordered. "I want to know how they found us," the General said as another of their tanks exploded.

"Sir, they're…" the Lieutenant began before General Arterius shot the man between his eyes with his sidearm.

"Yes, I know," Desolas replied as the tanks behind him returned fire.

It was a short battle. One that ended exactly the way Desolas had hoped it would. As the tanks stopped engaging each other, with the Turian armor completely gone and the Human armor with one badly damaged tank left, a hatch opened and out stepped a Human with eyes the likes of which Desolas had only seen once before.

"They threaten the Arca Monolith. Kill them for the glory of your masters!" Desolas ordered and the robed figures behind him all charged forward with intense speed and ferocity. It was, just as Desolas had planned, the end of the creatures that, quite frankly, gave him the creeps. If Velarn wanted to use these things as his personal army for taking over the galaxy, Desolas hopped only that he was never exposed to the Arca Monolith's power. "It seems that I can't rid myself of you, Human. Tell me, how did you manage to find me?" Desolas asked as the leader of the group approached him.

"You assume I know your language," the man replied, his words translated by the software in Desolas's neural interface.

"I assume nothing," Desolas replied. "I merely state what I already know."

"My God!" a second Human exclaimed. "They're Turian**s**!"

"A meta-Turian, to be more precise," Desolas corrected the other Human. "Powerful creatures, aren't they?"

"Then you brought that damned machine here to turn your own people into these… freaks?" another Human asked.

"I see you've updated your own translation software. Clearly you're not as primitive as I thought. Well, you're not at any rate. As for the rest of your kind… I've seen better fighting from Hannar," Desolas replied coldly.

"Coming from a man who just got himself captured, that's just fucking priceless," a shorter, more feminine Human said in an oddly challenging tone despite her size.

"As if you know what a Hannar is, Human," Desolas taunted.

"Sure I do," the Human replied. "They were one of the few races mentioned in the Prothean Galactic Codex that weren't wiped out by whoever it is that killed off the Protheans. I'm not an idiot, Turian, but clearly you are."

"And clearly you've studied your enemy. Now it's my turn to study you," Desolas declared as a Turian fighter wing flew overhead and destroyed their tank before a dropship landed behind the Turian, more of the aliens wielding guns storming out, and a Cruiser dropped out of the clouds above them.

****Alliance Naval Codex: Tier 4 Access Required****

***Primary Codex Entry***

**Starships**

*Cruisers*

Systems Alliance Cruiser-weight starships are the standard combat unit encountered away from large naval bases. They form the main fighting force of the Alliance Navy as nimble scouting Frigates have neither the punch nor the stamina to stand up to serious combat despite their increased barriers and weaponry. The Geneva Class Cruise was designed based off the frame of a heavily modified Prothean Cruiser. The Geneva Class forms the bulk of the Alliance's Cruiser fleet, and are equipped with two mass drives and an eezo core comparable to that of a Prothean Heavy Cruiser, of which the Alliance has only ever found records of.

Cruisers are designed to perform routine independent "show the flag" patrols in settled systems and lead flotillas of Frigates in small engagements, such as Prothean suppression campaigns should the race ever attempt to "bring the Alliance into their Empire." In major fleet engagements, Cruiser squadrons support the Dreadnought battle line by screening their flanks against enemies attempting to maneuver for a main gun "bow shot" from their vulnerable broadsides.

Alliance Cruisers are named after cities of Earth.

****Alliance Naval Codex: Tier 3 Access Required****

***Primary Codex Entry***

**Starships**

*Heavy Cruisers*

Where the Geneva Class Cruiser was designed based off of a Prothean Heavy Cruiser, the Alliance Terra Class Heavy Cruiser was designed from the ground up by Alliance Navy technicians after extensive study of the Prothean Dreadnought found beneath the surface of Terra Renatus. This led to the Alliance Heavy Cruiser having the barriers of a small Dreadnought, one standard mass driver, one heavy mass driver, and, the most lethal addition, a series of particle weapon emitters. This weapons system, found largely intact on the Prothean Dreadnought buried on Terra, fires a concentrated beam of hyper excited particles that cut through armor faster and more efficiently than a GARDIAN array can.

The creation of the Alliance Terra Class Heavy Cruiser allows for superior firepower to be fielded against any potential enemy without the deployment of a mighty Dreadnoughts. This allows the largest and most powerful class of ship in the Alliance to be carefully hoarded and committed to the most critical battles as Dreadnoughts are a strategic resource.

Alliance Heavy Cruisers are named after cities of Reach.

****Alliance Public Codex****

***Secondary Codex Entry***

**Technology**

*Audio Emulators*

During the late days of the Mars Expedition when the members of the team were looking for the key to the survival of the Human race, an issue was brought to their notice in the usual fashion. A repair team working on one of the Prothean surveyor ships returning from dropping off the Matrix on another colony for the expansion of their small population were using Prothean suits found in the Archives. What was truly amazing about this was, during the scheduled return of the other surveyor ship, the repair crew reported "Hearing the thing drop out of FTL."

Doctor Rodney McKay, baffled that sound could exist in the vacuum of space, researched the suits more thoroughly in the Prothean Galactic Codex and found mention of an "Audio Emulation System." This advance piece of technology mimics the sounds of anything it has in its database so that the wearer of the suit is able to rely on their sense of hearing while wearing a helmet during ground combat. A similar system was discovered to have been installed on all of the Prothean ships as well.

"Thinking back on it, I can remember the first time me and Sam got stuck up in that ship. We could hear the other one docking with us even before we felt the shudder of their connection. I just never realized, until now, that such a thing should've been impossible. If you asked me why they did that, my best guess would be that, if you can hear your allies blowing up around you, it gets your head in the game a hell of a lot more than if you couldn't hear them dying while they're out of your line of sight. It's not a bad idea, but it's not a perfect one either." Doctor Rodney McKay, leader of the Mars Expedition.


	5. Shanxi Part 2 Fires of Liberation

Chapter 3

Shanxi Part 2

_Fires of Liberation_

***Morte Nebula (Guerra System)***

**Shanxi (Orbit)**

*_Amundsen_ (Holding Cells) [five days later]*

"You Humans are so primitive," one of the Turians said as he looked over one of the weapons they had confiscated from the Humans upon their capture.

"A bullet's a bullet," Gabriella replied from her place in the interrogation chair.

"You have a lot to learn, Human. I look forward to teaching you when I take your 'Earth'," the Turian gloated. Just as the Turian was about to say something else, the woman behind him started laughing manically. "What's so funny?"

"You want Earth?" Gabriella asked. "You can have it."

"You're willing to give up your homeworld, yet you fight so hard for a colony?" the Turian asked.

"What worth does a pile of ash have to me?" Gabriella asked as she pulled against her restraints and leaned forward. "When a phoenix rises form its ashes, it cares not where its ashes land. It matters only that life goes on. We are the Children of Earth, birthplace of humanity, and we will not be defeated by the likes of you, Turian! Hail the phoenix!" Gabriella shouted victoriously as the entire ship shook around them. With one final tug, Gabriella slipped her hands free of her restraints before using them to beat the Turians before her to death. As she finished, a voice came over the internal comms system.

"_My name and who I am are irrelevant. You are all about to die. Before I personally send your souls to rot in the eternal flames of hell, I wish only to make one thing clear. You fucked with the wrong species! Hail the phoenix!"_

Immediately after the speakers popped to indicate the speech was over, more impacts to the Dreadnought's kinetic barrier had the floor practically rumbling beneath Gabriella's feet as she ran through the halls, gun in hand, searching for the other holding cells. Gabriella moved as fast as she could, avoiding patrols when possible, killing them when it wasn't. Sure Gabriella might not be an actual combatant, but a pissed off engineer with an Omni-tool, an overload, an incinerate, and a good rifle could be one hell of an advisory!

*_SSV Aconcagua_ (CIC) [a few seconds earlier]*

"Fire the opening wave and then force open a channel on all frequencies. Make sure **everyone** can hear me," the clearly pissed off President of the Systems Alliance Parliament ordered.

The floorboards of the _SSV Aconcagua_, the flagship of Systems Alliance Second Fleet, rumbled as the powerful guns fired their lethal payload. Rounds from all five Frigates, all five Cruisers, both Heavy Cruisers, and the Dreadnought fired in tandem and slammed into the alien fleet orbiting Shanxi like they owned the damned planet or something. The nerve of some aliens! Three of the presumably non-Prothean Frigates went down in flames from the damage they sustained from the precision bombardment aimed specifically towards not hitting the planet below.

As the fireballs burnt-out in the vacuum of space, the comms officer turned to the President a said, "You're on, Mister President."

"My name and who I am are irrelevant. You are all about to die. Before I personally send your souls to rot in the eternal flames of hell, I wish only to make one thing clear. You fucked with the wrong species!" Nick declared before proclaiming, "Hail the phoenix!" as if their victory was assured.

"Hail the phoenix!" the CIC crew echoed in unison as a massive wave of fighters dropped out of FTL behind the alien lines.

A large wave of Disruptor Torpedoes fired up from the swarm of tiny ships and the aliens scattered like roaches. As they did, the Alliance fleet brought their engines to full power and swept into the system at an arc. As the Alliance ships came in from one side and the fighters forced the alien ships to flee, the Alliance Navy's Second Fleet reclaimed orbital superiority in one fell swoop.

"Have the flight deck ready me a shuttle," Nick ordered as he made his way off of the CIC.

"Where are you going?" Admiral Kastanie Drescher, leader of the fleet and Commanding Officer of the _Aconcagua_, asked.

"To retake Shanxi," Nick replied.

*_Amundsen_ (Halls)*

"That was quick," Derek said as Gabriella gunned down the last Turian holding the man captive.

"And we need to move faster, we're already behind schedule," Gabriella snapped at him as she tossed him a Turian assault rifle.

"What schedule? And what's going on anyway?" Derek asked as Gabriella rushed him out of the room and down the halls of the massive Dreadnought.

"It's been five days, Lieutenant. Second Fleet just arrived," Gabriella replied.

"Oh don't tell me," Derek said as he shot at a Turian that was rounding the wrong corner at the wrong time. "We have to jump off of the ship before we get blown up along with it, don't we?"

"Are we really going to address the fact that you somehow feel it's my job to confirm what you already know, or are we going to get the hell off of this ship before we die?" Gabriella asked as they reached the room the woman had apparently been searching for. Inside were a bunch of scientists who were busy studying the weapons and armor they had taken from the Humans they had either captured or killed. Lying at the top of the pile were the superior weapons and armor utilized by Cerberus to assure their small unit still packed a big punch. Firing rounds into the air to get everyone's attention, Gabriella shouted, "On the deck, assholes!"

"You won't get away with this!" one of the Turians growled as Gabriella grabbed her favorite shotgun and Omni-tool.

"I just did, dipshit," Gabriella replied before shooting the man in the face. What was left of his head was splattered on several different surfaces. "Anyone else got anything they wanna add to that?" Gabriella asked. When no one replied, she motioned with her gun and said, "Scram!" The Turians all got up and ran for the door and Gabriella let them go. Derek… well, Derek was too stunned to move. "What part of 'we're behind schedule' do you not understand, Lieutenant? Get your ass moving!" Gabriella ordered as she threw off the simple cloths the Turians had forced her into and started pulling on her under armor.

By the time she had half of her armor plates strapped into place, Derek finally snapped out of his daze and started doing the same. Gabriella was running out of the room by the time he was done dressing so the Lieutenant had to hurry just to catch up.

"Where the hell are we going?" Derek asked as they rounded a corner.

"Through that whole," Gabriella replied as she activated her magnetic boots and sealed her helmet. As an extra precaution, she also readied her EVA thruster pack.

Derek had only just managed to do the same when an earth-shattering impact rocked the ship and tore a hole into the side of the side of the Dreadnought. As the air was flash heated then rapidly cooled, explosive decompression took effect and sucked out all of the air.

"Why do your evac plans always involve explosions?" Derek shouted over their battle-net as their audio emulators allowed them to hear the section of the ship they were in as it was explosively decompressed.

Behind them, the bulkhead leading back into the ship sealed shut with an audible thump. Before them, the entirety of the Systems Alliance Second Fleet was standing firm in orbit of Shanxi, their Turian enemies disorganized and rapidly loosing ground as the _Newton_'s massive fighter swarm pushed back the Turian fleet through the sheer volume of missiles being launched at them. 'Below' them, the planet of Shanxi was steadily growing smaller as the ship they were on made a mad dash for the Relay. That's when Derek saw what had torn through the Dreadnought so easily.

The _SSV Newton_, second ship of her class, was a McKay Class Fighter Carrier armed with the very weapons that the man himself had developed. The Striker Missile was a variant of the Disruptor Torpedo with the rather unique ability to make FTL jumps that allow the missile to bypass GARDIAN arrays and impact its target. It was quiet the sight to behold. Before them the _SSV_ _Newton_ fired off a huge wave of missiles that made is a few kilometers out from the ship itself before disappearing in a streak of motion to impact against the Dreadnought… that Gabriella and Derek were still standing in. Well, Derek was still standing in it at any rate. Gabriella had already jumped.

"You're gonna be the death of me, woman!" Derek shouted as he jumped from one of the Dreadnought's outermost levels and drifted away from the ship after his deranged partner.

"_Your lack of timing will be the death of you, Lieutenant. It won't be by any action of my own,"_ Gabriella replied as they drifted away from the ship just in time to avoid it jumping into FTL to escape its own destruction. The shockwave of its acceleration, however, did manage to push the Humans closer to orbit. Dangerously close, actually. _"This is Gabriella Naco to Systems Alliance forces in orbit of Shanxi. Lieutenant Derek Sixo and myself are free drifting in space towards orbit. Somebody come get us out here before we make planetary re-entry!"_

*_SSV Aconcagua_ (CIC) [a few minutes earlier]*

"Mister President, please. The middle of an alien invasion is hardly the time to be worrying about your re-election campaign!" Admiral Drescher practically pleaded with the man.

"_I don't give a shit about being re-elected!"_ Nick shouted back as his shuttle began takeoff procedures. _"I've served my terms; I can't even __**be**__ re-elected after this. Admiral, with all due respect, I was a soldier before I was a politician and if I have to die a politician I'll die a very angry man. Not to say that I have the intention of dying anytime soon, but I am not going to standby and watch as my people are killed! This conversation is over!"_

"Hail the phoenix indeed," the Admiral's XO muttered.

"What as that, Captain?" the Admiral asked.

"Nothing, sir," the Captain replied. "Just saying that we picked one hell of a man to be the first President of what's left of our people."

"You say that like he's bad news," the pilot remarked as he realigned the _Aconcagua_ to use the ship's barriers to intercept fire headed towards a Cruiser that had lost their own barriers.

"Quite the opposite, actually," the XO said in a neutral tone. "I voted the man into office because I knew he'd get the job done. I just never imagined that he would have such a… hands-on approach to things is all."

As the two veteraned soldiers talked, the _Newton_ fired off another wave of Striker Missiles. Once the torpedoes were a safe distance away from the large Carrier, they streaked forward in a blur of motion before impacting across the enemy Dreadnought's port side. The force of the detonations was enough to overwhelm the armor and tear a huge hole in the side of the massive ship.

"Order all available units to target the hole in the Dreadnought's armor. Their barriers are bound to have been weakened there!" the Admiral ordered.

The _Aconcagua_, not being in a position to fire on the other Dreadnought, allowed the two Heavy Cruisers in his fleet along with several Frigates to fire off a volley. The Cruiser rounds brought down what was left of the enemy's barrier and the Frigate rounds tore into the ship with impunity. It wasn't enough to destroy the hostile Dreadnought, but it was enough to force the ship to flee.

As the CIC of the _Aconcagua_ was filled with cheers, the Admiral ordered, "Keep your heads in the game! We've still got hostile forces in orbit and on the surface!" That statement didn't hold true for very long. Once the Dreadnought was detected jumping through the Shanxi-Theta Relay, the rest of the alien fleet soon turned tail and ran as well. "Send a message through the comm buoys to the troop ships. It's time to land our counterstrike!"

"Hail the phoenix!" the CIC crew declared in unison.

***Cluster Name: Unknown (System Name: Unknown)***

**Planet Name: Unknown (Orbit)**

*_SSV Prometheus_ (CIC)*

The _SSV Prometheus_ was lying in wait in orbit of a gas giant with a particularly active EM field. It wasn't enough to damage the ship, but it did have the beneficial ability to hide the Prothean Cruiser from enemy scans. Add to this the fact that the _Prometheus_ had advanced sensors, and the ship was able to remain invisible while still being able to see their target.

"Wait for the most opportune moment," Lieutenant Colonel Andy, the XO of Taskforce Cerberus, ordered the pilot.

"When would that be exactly?" Brian asked.

Andy didn't reply, he just waited, silently looking over Brian's shoulder. "Now!" Andy ordered.

With a few swipes of his controls, Brian had the _Prometheus_ hurling towards the alien Dreadnought. From the small hangar that had been added to the bottom of the _Prometheus_' superstructure, a single shuttle readied for launch. As soon as the _Prometheus_ was close enough to be sure the shuttle would be able to avoid detection, the Cruiser fired off a round from its main gun while the shuttle launched from the hangar. The round from the main gun had been reduced in power and harmlessly bounced off of the Dreadnought's thick armor plating though this was just a distraction. As the _Prometheus_ sped off and jumped into FTL, the shuttle maneuvered to the damaged section of the Dreadnought and set down inside of the damaged ship.

"Infiltration successful; we're receiving data from the transmitter now," Brian reported before he accelerated them to faster than light speeds. "We'll be able to track the Dreadnought as long as we stay within two Relays of their fleet. We'll easily be able to stay out of their detection range, but it's only a matter of time before they send teams to check the damaged section and they'll find the shuttle."

"We only need to follow them long enough to know where they're going," Andy replied as they dropped out of FTL a few light years out from the unnamed system. "Have the other ships keep an eye on the transponder and radio us when it's safe to return."

"Will-co," Brian said.

_*SSV Lexington_ (CIC)*

The _Lexington_ decelerated out of the Relay only a few seconds behind the Turian fleet, though that was enough to keep them out of firing range of the hostile ship. The small Frigate then accelerated off into the system proper before taking up orbit around a gas giant that they hadn't bothered to name since nobody lived in this system. The elevator door to the CIC opened and a rather disturbed looking Lieutenant stepped out behind a rather pissed looking Doctor.

"How did the infiltration mission go?" Gabriella asked.

"Everything went as planned," the ship's Captain replied. "The shuttle is aboard the Dreadnought and transmitting. We're tracking the fleet through the Relay Network. As long as they don't get more than two Relays behind them, we'll be able to follow them home."

"Then radio the Lieutenant Colonel and tell him to get back here. By the time they complete their jump, it'll time to go through the Relay," Gabriella ordered.

The Captain didn't bother pointing out that a civilian had no authority on his ship. Everyone in Cerberus knew that Gabriella was never wrong when it came to matters of timing.

*_Verrikan_ (Holding Cells)*

"I'm starting to think that you're more trouble than you're worth, Human. That's not a position you want to be in," Desolas practically growled as he stepped over the body of yet another meta-Turian that lie dead at his feet, a large hole in its chest.

"Then let me go, and save yourselves the trouble of going to war with my people," Ryan replied as he stood in a corner of the room, his eyes glowing bright blue as he exerted his will over the meta-Turians in the room.

"It's not your people that worry me, Human. The Hierarchy cannot be beaten by the pitiful forces you brought against us," Desolas replied. "You, however, are getting on my nerves."

"We forced you out of orbit of Shanxi. Our fleet just kicked yours out of Alliance Space, damaged your Dreadnought, and destroyed several of your Cruisers and Frigates as well as wiping out entire squadrons of fighters. Add to that the fact that you barely managed to disable a single ship on our side, and I have no reason to believe that your people are superior to my own," Ryan pointed out.

"Keeping the planet was tactically unsound. We left it for reasons other than the damages sustained. And besides, you only have the one fleet. The Hierarchy has enough ships to block out the stars that lit your worlds."

"If that were the case, you never would've left your ground forces to be wiped out by the Alliance counterassault. You ran because you couldn't win, not because you no longer wanted the planet. You can't lie to me."

"Even if such a preposterous statement were true, it doesn't change your situation," Desolas replied as he beheaded another meta-Turian under the Colonel's control. "You're running out of pawns."

"Stop toying with the damned alien and get him back under restraints," another Turian ordered as he walked past the room. He didn't even bother to help Desolas take out the remaining two meta-Turians.

"That would be Nihlus," Desolas said as he killed one meta-Turian before turning to the last and blowing its head off with a shotgun. "He's not exactly the helping type, but Saren trusts him so I have no choice but to work with him."

"As if those names mean anything to me," Ryan replied as tried to think of a way past the Turian that had so easily dispatched the powerful meta-Turians. "You're not even Human."

"You don't say!" Desolas replied.

"You're not Turian either. Not entirely," Ryan corrected.

"It took you long enough to figure that out," Desolas gloated as he approached the Human. "No, our Sovereign has given us many things to help us with the task he has assigned us."

"Your Sovereign? So the Turians believe in gods after all."

"Sovereign is not just another falsified being for history to forget as science forces us to forget our religions. I have met Sovereign and seen his resplendent glory. I have worshiped at his feet and received his blessing. You are nothing more than an insignificant memory for the galaxy to forget. I am the messenger of the gods. Keep that in mind, Human. The time of the Sovereign's return is near and the gods shall bring the glorious wrath of heaven down upon all the undeserving as the Turians ascend to godhood!"

***Sentry Omega (Hoc)***

**Virmire (Surface)**

*Main Base (Meditation Chamber)*

"_**Designation Turian, we have located the last of the chosen ones. His genes are strong. He will serve as the perfect addition to our forces. Find the one designated Krogan, sub-designation Urdnot Wrex. He will be easily located. His recent actions have allowed us to track his known destination. We will forward you the coordinates. Proceed alone. The ones designated as Geth are not welcome in organic space."**_

Saren sat, contemplating the universe through new eyes that had been made un-blind by the glory of Sovereign. When he opened his eyes, a soft blue glow highlighted his otherwise normal facial features. "Has Desolas sent any word on the Monolith?" Saren asked the red body of the Geth Prime that stood before him.

"_**The Monolith is only a secondary objective. The Geth still search this world for the orbs of the Leviathan. They have been hidden well. Go retrieve the Krogan. He will be needed."**_

Saren knew that the voice that came from the Geth did not belong to it. He had heard the Geth speak and they did not have the same weight behind their words. No, this was the voice of their Sovereign, the vanguard of their salvation. It was a voice that Saren would obey.

"As you wish, Sovereign," Saren replied as he stood to his feet form his place kneeling on the ground before the brightly glowing Beacon. As Saren walked, the Geth Prime followed along behind him. "Have we received word on the location of anymore Beacons?" Saren asked.

"_**The Protheans hid them well. The information from the Beacon on this world must be deciphered before we can locate another. We are still searching for a viable means of deciphering the information. We have found leads, though they are vague and we require more time to discern fact from fiction. Retrieve the Krogan and we will continue our search."**_

"As you wish, Sovereign," Saren said with a bow as he reached the hangar bay. "I will return as soon as possible."

***Cluster Name: Unknown (System Name: Unknown)***

**Relay Name: Unknown (En Route)**

*_SSV Prometheus_ (CIC)*

"Sir, we received a report from the shuttle crew. The Turians have found them," the navigator reported.

"Order them to abandon ship and slip away. We'll pick them up as soon as we reach the system," Andy ordered.

A few minutes later the _Prometheus_ and the rest of Taskforce Cerberus exited the Relay and cautiously made their way through the system. "We're receiving another report from the shuttle," the navigator said as the comms system crackled to life.

"_Sir, we managed to slip out of the Dreadnought and make it away from the fleet in one piece. We've sustained a bit of damage from their GARDIAN arrays, but we're fine,"_ the shuttle pilot reported.

"Well done, Major," Andy replied.

"_Sir, we've detected a Frigate breaking off from the main fleet. They're headed towards a different Relay,"_ the shuttle's co-pilot said. _"Hold on, I'm picking up something on the sub-frequencies. Shit! Sir, I've got Anderson's transponder coming off of that Frigate!"_

"_I'm picking up Coré's transponder as well as the Colonel's!"_ the pilot added.

"_That's not all,"_ Gabriella said as she joined the conversation. _"I'm picking up the same energy signature as the device that killed Ben and Jack gave off. It looks like the Turians kept the Colonel because he got zapped by it too. As for Coré and Anderson… I have no idea why they separated us."_

"Brian, full speed ahead! We have to keep up with that Frigate," Andy ordered. "Major, make sure you don't lose that Frigate, but don't get yourselves killed."

"_Will-co, Colonel; we'll maintain a safe distance,"_ the pilot replied before the comms channel was cut to reduce the odds of it being detected.

***Crescent Nebula (Tasale)***

**Illium (Surface)**

*Nos Astra Spaceport (Eternity Lounge)*

Wrex was sitting at a table, minding his own business as he thought of past. He thought of friends he had lost. Friends he had killed himself. Family he had. Family he had killed himself. He thought of all sorts of thing until one even in particular started replaying in his mind. His thoughts were interrupted when an Asari sat down across from him.

"Pardon my intrusion, but you look like you have plenty of interesting stories to tell," the Asari said.

"Playing around in my head, are you?" Wrex asked.

"I might've… picked up a certain vibe," the Asari replied.

"So you're one of those Ardat something-or-others?"

"You're a perceptive one."

"Only you mutants can read a person's general thought patters without actually melding. If you want to be less obvious about it, try not mentioning that you 'picked up a vibe.' You won't live too long if you keep that up. You'll live even shorter if you try mating with me."

"Fair enough, but I'm honestly only here about the stories."

"Names are always exchanged before stories. I'm Wrex."

"I'm Rila."

"And you're not here to try and kill me?" Wrex asked.

"No," Rila replied with a chuckle. "I'm honestly here because I'm bored with this little fieldtrip and you have some pretty interesting thoughts."

"You want a story? Fine. How about this one. It was roughly four-hundred years ago. I was hired by a Volus diplomat to get rid of an old friend who knew 'too much.' It was an Asari named Aleena. We were old friends… sort of. We met when we were hired to kill the same Turian. Naturally our professionalism took over and we both wanted the kill on our record. We spent more time fighting each other than we did tracking in the Turian. In the end we decided to work together and split the winnings. I got the head, she got the rest.

"Anyway, back to the Volus. I told Aleena about the contract and we had a good laugh about it. I wasn't about to abandon the contract, but I respected Aleena so I let her pick the place for our final showdown. She picked this old, piece of shit, rundown Salarian space station that had been taken over by Batarian slavers and terminus pirates so that there wouldn't be any innocent bystanders killed in the crossfire. Aleena was always a softy like that.

*****Cluster Name: Unspecified (System Name: Unspecified)*****

****Dead Space (Somewhere on System Edge)****

***Salarian Station (Docking Cradle) [Four-hundred years ago]***

Wrex stepped off of his ship and into the station proper. He had only been here for half a second and already he could tell that this place needed to be destroyed. He looked to his left and saw a group of Batarian slavers. He looked to his right and saw a group of pirates getting ready to go attack another colony. He looked dead ahead… and saw Aleena's face on a screen.

"So we're playing a game of cat and mouse?" Wrex asked.

"_Not at all, my dear friend,"_ Aleena replied with a wicked smile. _"I'm just getting a head start is all. I'm in an apartment near the center of the station. We'll start when you get here."_

The screen shut off and went back to showing departure and arrival times. Wrex shrugged his shoulders and grabbed the shotgun off of his back. Turning to the pirates he said, "If you so much as look at my ship, I'll tear you in half with my bare hands!" before storming off into the station.

"You heard the man, don't even look at his ship!" the leader of the pirates said mockingly as he approached the large shuttle Wrex had used to reach the station.

He made it all the way to the door before Wrex reappeared behind the foolish Turian. "You should've listened to me," Wrex said as he grabbed the Turian's head and tore it off with a single jerking motion. Tossing the head over to the other pirates, Wrex said, "Time to pick a new leader," before walking off again.

***Morte Nebula (Guerra System)***

**Shanxi (Surface)**

*Shanxi High Command (CIC)*

Sounds of weapons fire, fighting, and death filled the halls of the underground bunker that served as the central military command center for the colony of Shanxi's military forces. The bunker had been surrendered to the Turians by the Commanding Officer of the bunker, General Williams, to save the civilians from the orbital bombardment the Turians insisted on using. They had dropped pieces of the defending Alliance fleet onto the surface, destroying entire city blocks to eliminate single fire teams. Williams knew that he couldn't let the civilians die, there were so few Humans left, so he surrendered his command to save the civilians from the orbital bombardments. Now the Humans were pushing to take it back, but they weren't the Humans under the General's command.

When the door to the CIC was blown open by military grade breaching charges, the Turians moved to use the command staff as hostages. Flash bang grenades and EMP grenades were tossed through the door. Blinding flashes of light and painful booms filled the air from the flash bangs. Then the EMP grenades detonated and took out all of the electrical equipment in the room. The Turians' barriers collapsed, their Omni-tools stopped working, and the monitors short circuited. Then the Humans stormed in and the Turians didn't even return fire.

Shots were fired from the Humans who had orders to retake the command center. They didn't even realize the Turians were firing back until after they had killed half of the Turians in the room. Then a voice started shouting at the Marines to cease fire. As the room grew quiet, a figure well known to all Humans stepped into the room, gun in hand and at the ready.

"Who's in charge here?" he asked.

"That would be me," a Turian with grey skin and blue face-paint replied.

"And your reason for surrendering is?" the man asked.

"You overheated our weapons," the Turian replied and the man realized that the Turian did indeed have burn marks on his hands.

"Overheated your weapons?" the Human asked. "Since when do weapons overheat?"

"Since we evolved past gun powder propelled weapons that use railgun technology to fire rounds faster. Heat management is the trade off for more ammo and more stopping power," another Turian snarled before adding, "Damned primitive aliens."

"Primitive?" the Human asked before raising his rifle to point at the ceiling. He then fired until the gun started beeping. Then the man swept his arm out in an arc and a white-hot cylinder landed on the Turian's foot. The alien screamed in pain and jumped back from the still glowing source of heat. "Don't call us primitive just because you think you're superior to us. You have no idea who we are, what we are, or who the hell it is you're dealing with!" the Human declared as he slammed another cylinder into his rifle and the weapon stopped beeping.

"You made one hell of a mistake coming here, but I must admit that I'm curious. Why did you come to our world?" the Human demanded.

"As if it needs saying," the now wounded Turian snarled in reply. The Human turned to the alien, his barriers still off line, and fired a round into the alien's chest where the Human heart would be. The alien fell to the ground, holding his chest as he slowly bled to death.

"What the hell did you do that for?" the Turian in charge asked.

"As if it needs saying," the Human replied in the same tone the Turian had used. "If your motivations need no justifications then neither do mine. You're surrounded, your weapons still in a cool down cycle, and the moment you try to use them an enemy superior in number and force will kill you all. Sergeant, arm our men."

"Sir!" the Sergeant replied as he handed his pistol to one of the now freed Humans. The rest of the squad of Humans did the same until the command staff of the bunker was fully armed and aiming their weapons at their former captives.

"I'll only ask you one more time, and you might want to think of a better answer than 'as if it needs saying' or you'll join the other one in hell," the Human in charge demanded. "Why did you come to our world?"

The room was silent, the Turians all looking around as if they weren't sure who was supposed to answer. Finally one of the younger looking aliens said, "Because you were trying to activate a Relay."

"And that's justification enough for you to open fire on three civilian ships!?" the Human shouted in outrage.

"Cit… Citadel… Citadel law clearly states that no one's allowed to activate dormant Relays. The last time we did, we ended up fighting the Rachni. They… they made it illegal after that," the young man stuttered in reply as he found himself the object of the Human's wrath.

"'Citadel law'?" the Sergeant asked in a confused tone. "What the hell is 'Citadel law'?"

"The Citadel is the heart of galactic society, seat of the Citadel Council. The Council makes the laws, we enforce them," the Turian's leader replied in an equally confused tone.

"Oh?" the Human asked. "And let me ask you something else. What the fuck makes you think I give a damn about what 'Citadel law' says when I've never even heard of your 'Citadel'?"

"We didn't know that!" the younger Turian practically shouted.

"We detected someone trying to activate Relay 314. We assumed it was the Batarians or a group of civilians recklessly endangering the lives of everyone else in Citadel Space. We responded appropriately," the higher ranking Turian said.

"Let me get this straight," the human in charge said as he shook his head. "Three **unarmed civilian** **ships** with **no weapons** tried to activate a Relay from **our side** of the Relay pair, and you felt it was your duty to charge through the Relay and blow up** three unarmed civilian ships** that had **no weapons** without first attempting to identify the ones you were shooting at? They were on **our side** of the Relay pair. They were in **our territory** where things are run by **our laws** but you felt it was your duty to stop **unknown aliens you had never met before** from opening a Relay on **our side** of the Relay pair when we clearly had never met before? WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE!?"

"We didn't know who was opening the Relay," the Turian Commander began.

"That only gives you all the more reason **not** to shoot at them!" the Human shouted in reply. "You didn't even **attempt** to make contact before you opened fire. You just started shooting at **unarmed civilian ships**! I should have you all hung for crimes against humanity!"

"We're not the ones who attacked your civilians," the Turian Commander said as calmly as he could despite his growing panic. This man had already killed one of his own men in cold blood and he was now afraid for the lives of those who served under him.

"Oh you might not be the ones who destroyed the initial civilian ships, but you are the ones who then attacked the planet in force and destroyed our ships," the Human countered.

"No, that was the navy. We're just ground pounders," the Commander argued.

"Oh, so you're not the ones who ordered entire city blocks filled, again, with **unarmed civilians** to be bombed from orbit?" the Human shouted in rage.

"No, that was General Desolas," the Commander practically pleaded. "He's the one that was in charge of this entire operation. We only followed orders and captured the command bunker. Please, don't punish my soldiers for the following orders. If you have anyone to blame out of the people here, it's me."

"Where's the General?" the Human demanded.

"He was on the surface for a few hours five days ago. I think he went back up to the Dreadnought after that," the Turian replied.

"You mean the Dreadnought that escaped? Where are they headed?"

"Back to Palaven or the Citadel, I don't know which. They left us behind and didn't even try to pick us up off of the surface."

"You want to save what's left of your people?" the Human asked.

"Yes."

"Then order them to stand down."

"You destroyed our equipment," the Turian pointed out.

The Human pressed a few buttons on his Omni-tool and the equipment in the CIC whirred back to life. "You can use ours," the Human growled in response. "Order them to stand down, and make it clear that any further acts of hostilities will result in the immediate death of those involved. If they piss me off enough, you **all** die so make sure they get the fucking message."

"This Commander Vakerian to all Hierarchy forces on the Human colony of Shanxi. You are to stand down and cease all hostilities. Anyone who refuses these orders will be put to death. Anyone who resists capture will be put to death. The command bunker has been recaptured and the Humans have retaken orbit. Stand down."

"Sergeant, the aliens present here are to be considered prisoners of war. Kill five for every one that resists," the Human ordered.

"Yes sir," the Sergeant replied as he and the other Human soldiers started cuffing the Turians and leading them out of the CIC and towards the holding cells.

"Mister President, what are you doing here?" General Williams asked as soon as the last Turian had been led out.

"Retaking Shanxi," Nick replied as he stepped up to the holo-tank that displayed the location of their forces.

*****Cluster Name: Unspecified (System Name: Unspecified)*****

****Dead Space (Somewhere on System Edge)****

***Salarian Station (Apartments) [day one]***

"Sit down, have a drink," Aleena said when Wrex arrived. She was holding out a glass of dark looking liquor.

"I'm here to kill you, Aleena, I'm not about to let you poison me," Wrex countered.

"The fighting comes after the drinking," Aleena replied as she took a big gulp of the cup then held it out to Wrex again. "I'm not about to poison you anyway. That would just be rude."

"Fine," Wrex grumbled as he took the glass and finished draining it. Aleena poured him another, took a drink of it as well to prove it wasn't poisoned, then handed him the glass once again.

"Just so I know, which Volus was it that hired you?" Aleena asked.

"I can't tell you that," Wrex replied as he drained the second glass. "Bad reputations are bad for business."

"Fair enough, just promise me something."

"Depends on what."

"If I win, you have to tell me the Volus' name before you die."

"Fair enough," Wrex replied with a chuckle.

They spent the next two hours draining the bottle of Asari wine, for Aleena, and Krogan alcohol, for Wrex. They talked of the things they had done since last they saw each other, things they planned on doing, made bets on who would survive… it would've been a pleasurable evening if it wasn't doomed to become something more ferocious. Finally, when both of the aliens had finished their respective bottles of alcohol, Aleena stood and walked over to a window that overlooked the busy 'streets' of the station.

"It really is a shame it has to end like this," Aleena said sadly.

"Yeah, it is," Wrex said as he reinforced his barrier.

He wasn't a moment too soon as Aleena turned and sent a shockwave at him only a second later. The couch flipped over and Wrex rolled to his feet, but Aleena had already broken the window and jumped out. Then Wrex noticed the flashing lights around the room and quickly charged out of the window himself. His bulk crossed the threshold just as the bombs went off and Wrex fell, his biotics slowing his decent, until he landed on a passing shuttle. The shuttle dropped several hundred meters before the pilot managed to compensate for Wrex's added mass. Then Wrex saw Aleena, jumping from car to car in a bid to gain distance on him. No doubt she had more traps planned.

"Aleena!" Wrex roared, his voice booming out over the noise of the traffic. "This isn't over yet!"

"I never expected it to be that easy!" Aleena shouted back. "I would've been disappointed if the great Urdnot Wrex was so easily killed!"

"Ha-ha-ha!" Wrex laughed as he slammed a fist into the roof of the shuttle and pulled the pilot out. "I'm confiscating your vehicle," Wrex said before tossing the dazed Batarian into the street. By the time Wrex managed to tear a hole in the roof large enough for him to squeeze through, the Batarian had already hit the ground and died and Aleena had disappeared. "Now it's getting interesting," Wrex muttered to himself as he scanned the crowds for Aleena.

***Cluster Name: Unknown (System Name: Unknown)***

**Relay Name: Unknown (En Route)**

*_SSV Prometheus_ (CIC)*

"Where the hell are we?" Andy asked.

"Really, really deep into uncharted territory," Brian replied. "We've never been this far out of Alliance Space."

"What do you expect? We don't have the manpower to keep expanding right now," Gabriella asked. The short-tempered woman had been shuttled over to the _Prometheus_ during their last drive discharge so that she could monitor the situation with the more advanced Prothean sensors. "In a few generations, when the Human population is high enough, we'll start branching out. Right now, we could fit everyone on Terra Renatus. The only reason we didn't was because we got more resources the way it's set up now. I, for one, would've set us up on Terra Renatus for the first few years as opposed to just spreading out our minor population. If they had, we wouldn't have run into the Turians this soon."

"Yeah, but we wouldn't have as many ships and resources as we do," Derek countered.

"Not true. I would've set up mining operations on the other planets, yes, but the civilian population would've been safely tucked away on one world until the military had the resources to defend a larger territory," Gabriella replied.

"Touché," Derek relented.

"What's the status of the target?" Andy asked.

"Approaching another Relay, sir," Brian replied.

"Does anybody have any idea where the hell we are?"

"Shit!" Gabriella swore.

"What is it?" Andy asked.

"You remember the first Primary Relay we found out by Harvest?"

"Yeah."

"We're about three Relay jumps past that! We've gone clear from one side of Alliance Territory to the exact opposite. I think we're in the Attican Beta cluster right now. We've got the Relay to the Armstrong Nebula over there with the Relay to the… Sentry Omega cluster."

"You don't sound very happy about that," Derek pointed out.

"That would be because not a single one of the fifteen probes we sent into that system have returned or sent back data of any kind. I guess now we know why. The Turians must have a base there," Gabriella replied.

"So they've been studying our tech for a while now?" Andy asked.

"No sir, we equipped all of the probes with Disruptor Torpedoes for self-destruct mechanisms. If they were captured, they would've detonated automatically. It's most likely that the probes were destroyed the moment they exited the Relay, which means they most likely have a fleet defending it. We need to proceed with caution," Gabriella explained.

"Brian, plot the least accurate Relay jump you can manage. Get us just close enough to the target system that we'll be able to reach it via FTL," Andy ordered.

"Aye sir, I'll get us close far enough out to be undetected," Brian replied.

"Sir, while that plan makes a lot of sense, the Relay's still going to activate on their end. They'll know that **something** came through and might start searching for us. The odds of them finding us in dead space are small, but it'll make approaching the system a lot harder," Gabriella informed them.

"Either way, we need to rescue our people before something bad happens to them," Andy replied.

*_Verrikan_ (Holding Cells)*

"You're not as special as you think you are, Human," Desolas gloated as he walked around the table Ryan was strapped to.

"I'm not the one who thinks I'm important," Ryan countered. "You're the one who keeps running tests on me. If you want to know how the Monolith works, run tests on your own damned DNA."

"I haven't ever been exposed to the Monolith's power. My eyes are not the result of such an inglorious machine. I received my blessings from Sovereign himself. Know the difference, Human, for there is one. You may be able to control the mutations with your thoughts, but I can do so much more."

"I have yet to see you don something that any other Turian is incapable of."

"If you think you can coerce me into a blind display of power, you are mistaken."

"You know, you really are an annoying alien."

"As if I care what you think of me."

"All you ever do is walk around bragging about thing that nobody understands. If you're going to claim to be able to do things but not show or tell anyone what those things are all it does is make it look like you're making empty threats. Nobody's afraid of you. You're not even in charge of this ship. That other Turian, Nihlus, gets to boss you around and you don't even have a choice but to follow him. Some General you are."

"It's not my fault that SPECTREs have more authority than generals these days."

"Whatever a SPECTRE is," Ryan mutter to himself.

"The Council's SPECial Tactics and REconnaissance division, not that you even know what the Council is."

"Wow, was that actually a straight answer? I'm shocked," Ryan said.

"Very funny Human," Desolas replied. "We're nearly to Virmire. You can be Indoctrinated there and then this process will be that much easier."

"Good luck with that," Ryan challenged. "I'm not about to let you turn me against my people. I'm not that weak willed."

"Your will won't even be a factor in the matter. There isn't a soul alive that can resist the lure of Sovereign's voice."

*****Cluster Name: Unspecified (System Name: Unspecified)*****

****Dead Space (Somewhere on System Edge)****

***Salarian Station (Streets) [Day one]***

Loud cracks filled the air as Wrex fired his shotgun at the Asari Commando turned mercenary. In reply, a steady stream of rifle fire was eating away at his barrier even as his own blasts chipped away at Aleena's own. They both stopped firing as their weapons overheated. Then the biotics started flying. Warps left both of their hands and collided in mid air causing an explosion of energy that destroyed a nearby building.

"You never were one to take it easy," Wrex said as he felt the repercussions of Aleena's special move. It wasn't a warp like most people produced. Aleena's warp was more like a 'flare' of biotic energy.

"Oh, and you were?" Aleena laughed in reply. "Come on, Wrex, if either of us were different than what we are, we wouldn't be such good friends."

"We're friends?" Wrex asked as he slammed a throw into Aleena's barrier and made her stumble back a few steps.

"Well, we might've been before this," Aleena replied as she wrapped a biotic lash around Wrex's ankle and pulled him off of his feet. Wrex hit the ground with a heavy thud before kicking his feet and rocketing himself away on a shockwave. As he got back to his feet, Aleena said, "But after this, I think our friendship is ruined."

"Cry me a river!" Wrex shouted before charging at the Asari. Aleena charged back and the two impacted with the force of two trains headed in opposite directions colliding at top speed.

"I'd rather make a river with your blood!" Aleena growled in reply.

"Looks like the softy finally got a backbone," Wrex laughed as he forced her back a step, their struggle causing energy to roll of them in waves and tear the station walls apart. "So what changed?"

"What can I say, Urdnot, you have that affect on people," Aleena replied in kind before driving her knee into Wrex's chest.

"It'll take more than that to get me, Aleena. You should know that by now," Wrex said as he knee impacted his armor and bounced off.

"Why wear so much armor, Wrex? I thought Krogan had good health regeneration," Aleena taunted him.

"Just because it regenerates doesn't mean it doesn't hurt," Wrex replied. "Why do Asari wear armor with kinetic barriers if they all have biotics?"

"Just because we have biotics doesn't mean we have to use them."

"And there's another answer to your question."

"Screw you!" Aleena said jokingly as she delivered a biotic enhanced kick to Wrex's chest to force the Krogan back. As the two broke apart, the station groaned around them as the shockwaves stopped radiating out from the duo. "You know, this really is going to be fun once we get past the initial set up."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Wrex asked as the two circled each other, waiting for the opportune moment to strike.

"The longer it takes for this to play out, the more interesting that it's going to get. And, knowing you, this is going to take us a few days to settle," Aleena explained.

"And knowing you, this will most likely end with an explosion," Wrex grinned back. "That's why I like you, Aleena. You know how make shit interesting!"

***Sentry Omega (Hoc)***

**Dead Space (System Edge)**

*_SSV Prometheus_ (CIC)*

"What's our next step?" Brian asked.

"We land a scouting force, find our men, then plan a way to pull them out," Andy replied.

"It's not going to be as easy as it sounds. We still need a way into the system that doesn't get us caught," Derek said.

"True, but, then again, we could try the more direct approach and just start blowing shit up," Gabriella countered.

"I like that plan," Andy said, "but it wouldn't be the best way of going about this. We'll land an infiltration team using the shuttle. Its jammers haven't failed us yet, so let's go ahead and use that to our advantage."

"Aye sir, we'll get ready for infiltration duty," Derek replied.

****Alliance Naval Codex: Tier 3 Access Required****

***Primary Codex Entry**

**Starships**

*Carriers*

According to the Prothean Galactic Codex, all known races from the time of the Prothean Empire provided their fleets with organic fighter support. Prothean Cruisers could fit a handful of small fighters in the space between the interior pressure hulls and exterior armor, and their Dreadnoughts had a hangar deck within the hull though still only carried a limited number of fighters. Dreadnoughts are so rarely deployed that using them as mass fighter carriers was simply uneconomical. Alliance Naval engineers, who had only recently "graduated" from surface to space combat, were the first to build a class of ship wielding fighters as the main armament.

In simulated fleet combat between Alliance Naval forces practicing for the eventuality that the Protheans returned, Carriers would always stay clear of the battle and launch fighters bearing Disruptor Torpedoes against their simulated enemy. Fighters are the primary striking power of the ship, though it is equipped with additional defensive weaponry. Despite the presence of an extensive GARDIAN array and powerful barrier, if a Carrier enters mass accelerator range of the enemy, things have gone horribly wrong, as the Carrier is more of a ranged attack vessel than even a Dreadnought is known to be.

The idea for the Systems Alliance's Carrier came from their own minds and not form the Protheans. The McKay Class Fighter Carrier vessel was designed to replace the Nimitz Class Air Craft Carrier as a space faring vessel the size of a Dreadnought with its primary means of offensive being the mass launch of fighters. The McKay Class Carrier was commissioned before the man's death, though was previously known simply as the Alliance Carrier. After the untimely death of the leader of the Mars Expedition, the class of vessel was renamed in tribute to his contributions to the survival of the Human race.

Alliance Carriers are named after great leaders, artists, and intellectuals from human history.

****Alliance Naval Codex: Tier 2 Access Required****

***Primary Codex Entry***

**Technology**

*Striker Missiles*

Alliance Carriers are equipped with a missile launch ability the likes of which are comparable to a highly advanced upgrade to humanity's old Tomahawk Missiles. The Striker Missile is a uniquely outfitted Disruptor Torpedo that has two eezo cores as opposed to one. Where the standard Disruptor Torpedo is designed to be launched in mass to overpower enemy GARDIAN arrays, the Striker Missile is designed to bypass GARDIAN arrays all together. The first eezo core in the Striker Missile allows it to detonate a warp field on par with a Disruptor Torpedo's own payload. The second eezo core in the Striker Missile allows the warhead to make a precision FTL jump directly past the enemy's estimated GARDIAN defense grid to impact against the hull of the target vessel without any chance of being shot down. This gives the McKay Class Fighter Carrier a long range sting that few other ships can match.

****Alliance Naval Codex: Tier 2 Access Required****

***Primary Codex Entry***

**Technology**

*U-Web*

Thusly named for its unknown origins (hence the 'U'), the U-Web is a form of defensive technology employed on all Alliance naval warships. A series of circuits and power conduits running through the ship's external hull plating allow the intensive heat generated by the directed energy weapon known as a GARDIAN laser to be absorbed and dispersed through the hull of the ship. The technology was under development by the Protheans at the time of the collapse of their empire, and is apparently alien in origin as the Prothean Codex entry on the subject mentions that, "Aid from the Ancients allowed us to make leaps and bounds in several fields of scientific exploration."

****Alliance Public Codex****

***Secondary Codex Entry***

**Known Species**

*Ancients*

Who the "Ancients" are and why they helped the Protheans is unclear, though the Alliance is wary of a race willing to help one as violent-natured as the Protheans make "leaps and bounds" in weaponry such as their co-development on the particle cannon. Any race willing to freely handover weapons of mass destruction to another who so clearly violated the rights of those they saw as "lesser species" is a force to be avoided. However, in the scientific community, the "Ancients" are revered as being masters of technology and true scientists. It is therefore speculated that the Protheans may have subjugated the "Ancients" before the other race relented and gave them what they wanted just to save their kind from the wrath of the Protheans.


	6. Shanxi Part 3 Shadowy Figures

Chapter 4

Shanxi Part 3

_Shadowy Figures_

***Sentry Omega (Hoc)***

**Virmire (Surface)**

*Main Base (Landing Pad)*

"Anderson, Coré, it's good to see you're still alive," Ryan said as the two people in question were forced out of the Frigate behind him.

"You too, sir," Anderson replied. "My guess is that we have a plan for this?" Anderson asked in a language that only the Humans could understand.

"Not this time, Anderson," Ryan replied in the same language. "Gabriella's the one with the impeccable sense of timing that always gets us out of situations like this."

"Stop your plotting and keep walking!" Desolas ordered as he prodded Coré with the tip of his rifle.

The woman reacted instantly by slamming her elbow into the Turian's nose before taking his gun and, hands bound in a way that made it impossible to hold it properly, slammed the butt of the rifle into Desolas' face. The Turian growled in reply before saying something in a language the Humans didn't understand. Before Eva could so much as blink, a hand had her by the throat holding her in the air with her feet dangling above the ground. When Anderson lunged at the meta-Turian holding Eva up, he was shocked when the hood fell back to reveal…

"Ben!" Anderson exclaimed.

The man's head had been sown back on and several brightly glowing cybernetic implants could be seen keeping the man alive. He wasn't Human. Not anymore. Now he was nothing more than a husk of his former self.

*****Cluster Name: Unspecified (System Name: Unspecified)*****

****Dead Space (Somewhere on System Edge)****

***Salarian Station (Streets) [day three]***

"You're losing it, old man," Aleena taunted Wrex as she nimbly jumped out of his reach and climbed the side of a building to escape his reach.

"The only thing I'm loosing is my ammo supplies," Wrex replied with a mischievous smile as he replaced his empty ammo brick a fresh one. This was his last brick of metal for his shotgun and his rifle had been obliterated by a warp a few hours ago.

"If you let that slow you down, you're not the same Krogan I remember," Aleena said, her voice now coming from nowhere in particular. She had slipped away… again!

"I'm not that easily beat, Aleena," Wrex shouted to into the air. "I'll be back in ten seconds."

"I'll be waiting."

"Sure you will. Ha-ha-ha," Wrex laughed as he stopped off towards a local bar. "Hey you! Give me that gun!" Wrex demanded of the Batarian bouncer.

"Piss off!" the Batarian replied.

"I'd rather not," Wrex said before slamming a biotic enhanced punch into the Batarian's skull. As the Batarian's head exploded, Wrex grabbed the man's rifle then stomped off back across the street.

"Took you long enough," Aleena said as she casually leaned against the wall. "Are you ready now?"

"Aren't you running low on ammo too?" Wrex asked, more to keep her talking than anything else. He was still reformulating his strategy to include the bouncer's shitty rifle.

"Why would I need more ammo? I'm not as bad of a shot as you are," Aleena replied.

"Ha-ha-ha," Wrex laughed in a deep, rumbling voice. "I'm going to enjoy killing you."

"I fail to see that happen as of yet," Aleena pointed out. "It's been two days and you've only managed to scratch me so far."

"And you haven't been able to break my barrier yet, so what's your point?"

"I don't really have one. I'm just stalling so that I can think of a way to end you."

"Yeah… same here," Wrex admitted in an annoyed fashion.

"Too bad there's no more alcohol," Aleena said. "We could go to the bar?" she suggested.

"Sit around for another round of drinks while we think of the best way to end this? Sounds good to me," Wrex replied. "Might have to go to a different bar though."

"Why? That one's closer."

"I killed someone in that one."

"Damn, Krogan; always talking with your gun first."

"I used my biotics."

"Like that makes it any better!"

"Just tell me where the other bar is," Wrex grumbled as the duo started walking.

"I think there's another one around the block," Aleena replied. "You got any credits?" she asked.

"Nah, I figured we'd just take what we wanted. You know, have a little fun," Wrex said with a dubious smile.

"For old time's sake," Aleena agreed with a smile of her own.

***Crescent Nebula (Tasale)***

**Illium (Surface)**

*Nos Astra Spaceport (Eternity Lounge)*

"In the middle of a fight to the death… you up and decided to go drinking?" Rila asked in disbelief.

"We were at an impasse. Neither of us knew how to proceed so we decided to take a break. It's not unheard of," Wrex replied in a serious tone.

"What do you think you're doing?" an Asari Matriarch asked as she walked over with an angered expression. "You know you're not supposed to leave the group!"

"Relax, she's not harming anyone," Wrex interrupted.

"You don't know who you're dealing with," the Matriarch insisted.

"He's knows, ma'am. Honestly I'm just listening to a story," Rila replied.

"Join us if you want. I'm sure you'd enjoy the tale," Wrex added. "Now, where was I?"

"The random trip to the bar in the middle of trying to kill each other," Rila replied with a knowing smile. She had gotten the Matriarch's attention with that comment.

"Right… So Aleena and I went to a bar on the other side of the station, the one around the block didn't have what we wanted. When we get there, there's this Turian bouncer acting like he owns place. So Aleena and I are walking up and already he can tell we mean trouble cause he started trying to lock the place up. Aleena charged forward and slammed him into the far wall and everyone started panicking. Anyway, we finished off the mercs and pirates inside, killed all the slavers, and raided the bar supplies. Then we climbed to the top of the highest building overlooking the busiest part of the station and we just sat there drinking and talking for a good few hours," Wrex went on.

"And you were trying to kill each other?" the Matriarch asked.

"Yeah, I was contracted to kill her by a Volus diplomat. Anyway, after that we started fighting again," Wrex explained.

***Sentry Omega (Hoc)***

**Virmire (Surface)**

*Main Base (Holding Cells)*

"If you want to know what Humans are made of, just let me go and I'll show you!" Coré shouted.

"We know all that we need to about Human biology from studying the Human corpses on Shanxi. We're not really interested in you anymore. It's the… 'Colonel' here that has our interests," Desolas replied in a condescending tone.

"I'm going to kill you, you arrogant ass!" Coré shouted.

"Yes, I'm so scared of the little Varren in the cage. Shout all you want, you're only important because I want to know how Indoctrination will work on Humans and I'd rather not destroy the Colonel's mind until necessary. That's what you're here for, female. The other male is here so we have a baseline to compare the Colonel's reaction to the Monolith to. You'll get your exposure soon, but first I have few tests to run to be sure you're not going to do the same thing that the other Humans did," Desolas continued.

"I'm going to enjoy killing you!" Coré shouted again.

Desolas ignored the woman and turned back to Ryan. Pointing to Ben, who was standing off in a corner, Desolas said, "You were both hit by the device, yet you were not a meta-Human. You kept your mind, your sense of being, your self-control. I need the meta-Turians to do the same. You'll make an excellent stepping stone toward the ascension of the Turian species."

"What did you do to Ben?" Coré demanded.

"I didn't do anything to him. It was the Monolith that changed him. You see, we found it on Palaven buried in a secret crypt under Temple Palaven. What it did to the first person who touched it had us intrigued from day one, and now we are so near perfecting it. Councilor Velarn wanted the Monolith to raise an army of meta-Turians to take over the world, but Sovereign demanded the Monolith be used for a holier cause. Now it will serve to make warriors to defend, protect, and carry out the will of the gods," Desolas replied. "The Valluvian Priests of old knew not what they had found when the buried the Monolith in Temple Palaven. I intend to fix their mistake."

"Temple Palaven stands a relic to the Turians' superstitious past when titans strolled across our world, reaching for the stars. The temple was sealed when the Turians discovered other species among the stars. Now, with the true titans on the planet, the Temple will play host to the Arca Monolith, where it can be revered by its worshipers and other interested parties," Desolas went on, monologging as if the Humans knew what he meant. The Turian came off as being quite insane. "The time for the ascension of the Turians is at hand. We now possess an evolution accelerator. For too long there has been parity between races on the Citadel. When a new race can enter as equals, I feel it is time to change the equation by bringing myths to life."

"You don't know what you're dealing with," Ryan countered.

"Yes, but you do and that, Human, is why you're here," Desolas countered. "Temple Palaven was once a place where Turians talked to their deities, and it soon will be again."

"You don't know what you're dealing with," Ryan said again. "There's more to the Monolith than just an evolutionary jump-start. That machine is dangerous."

"That's exactly what I'd expect from a racial partisan who's standing in my way. You will tell me what I want to know, or your friends will," Desolas declared.

"You'll never break any us," Coré said defiantly. "Humans aren't your run-of-the-mill species."

"Whatever that means, I'm sure it's irrelevant. None can resist the voice of Sovereign," Desolas replied.

*****Cluster Name: Unspecified (System Name: Unspecified)*****

****Dead Space (Somewhere on System Edge)****

***Salarian Station (Streets) [day three]***

"Just like old times," Wrex grumbled as he picked himself up from the ground. "Don't think this is over, Aleena! I'm still coming for you!" Wrex shouted.

"I'd be really disappointed if it was that easy to kill you, Wrex," Aleena shouted back from her place at the top of the building she had shoved Wrex off of.

Wrex replied by slamming his fist into the base of the building. A biotic shockwave vibrated through the armored walls until the entire building started to collapse. As the building fell, Aleena was caught off guard and fell with it. She landed on the ground, hard, and bits of metal landed on top of her. She screamed in pain and shouted in surprise at the same time. Wrex smiled. He finally had her. Wrex approached Aleena's down form with a smile on his face.

"Too bad you didn't see that coming," Wrex gloated.

Aleena replied by letting her biotics flair before sending a massive, jagged piece of metal through Wrex's chest. So great was the force of the impact that Wrex was sent flying across the street and was impaled on the wall behind him.

"Too bad you didn't see that coming," Aleena's voice, a faint whisper, reached Wrex's ears as he caught sight of the blue woman limping away from the collapsed building.

"Ha-ha-ha," Wrex laughed before slamming his fist into the metal impaling him. The metal snapped off and allow the Krogan to ease himself off of the spike. As his feet hit the ground, Wrex looked over wound and noted that it had cut one of his stomachs in half. It didn't matter, he had eaten enough to fill all three of them to be sure his biotics would hold.

"He's still alive!" a Batarian shouted in shock.

"We need to get out of here!" a Salarian insisted. "Those two are going to tear this station apart!"

A strange silence fell over the area as everyone looked at Wrex expectantly. "Boo!" Wrex said and the crowd scattered like a pack of Varren running from a Thresher Maw. "Ha-ha-ha!" Wrex laughed to himself as he started walking after Aleena. Wrex followed the trail of blue blood until it ended at the door to the med lab. The doors had been warped in such a way that they wouldn't be opening any time soon. Wrex didn't care. He had a bit of time. "Aleena!" Wrex called to her. "Stop hogging the medical equipment! You're not the only one that's wounded here!"

He didn't get an answer, but he did hear it when the alarms started going off. _"Warning. Critical failure detected in reactor core casing. All inhabitants are hereby advised to evacuate the station,"_ the station's VI said.

"Aleena!" Wrex shouted in a more serious tone. No answer. "This isn't how it's supposed to end. Come on, we need to get out of here!" Again there was no answer. "Fine then, die here with the rest of the vermin. See if I care," Wrex said before stomping off back towards his shuttle.

As he walked, the station's systems started overloading. Random conduits in the walls would explode in protest to the amount of power running through them. Lights flickered and died. Water pipes bursts. The station was defiantly not going to last much longer. Wrex barely made it to his shuttle in time to reach a safe distance before the station exploded. He waited for a good three hours and saw no sign of any other ship in the system. Then he turned around and headed back to his employer.

***Crescent Nebula (Tasale)***

**Illium (Surface)**

*Nos Astra Spaceport (Eternity Lounge)*

"There's no way it ended like that!" the Matriarch practically pleaded. "After everything you went through, she died in an explosion?"

"Shush," Rila demanded. "The story's not over yet."

"I watched the station disintegrate. By the time it was done, there wasn't anything left larger than a Turian's left nut. Before I even made it half way back to my employer, Aleena sends me this message. 'Better luck next time.' I got a laugh out of that," Wrex continued.

"So she's still alive?" Rila asked.

"She's probably old enough to be a Matriarch by now," Wrex replied.

"What about the Volus? What did you tell him?" the Matriarch asked.

"The truth," Wrex said. "I told him that if wanted to stay safe, he'd better higher me on as his guard. Worked for the man until the day he died; natural causes. Easiest job I ever had, but also the most boring."

"Wow, that's an amazing story," the Matriarch mused.

"See, I told you I wasn't up to no good," Rila stated mater-of-factly.

"Matriarch Gallae," another young Ardat-Yakshi said as she approached their table.

"What is it, Falere?" Gallae asked.

"It's time for us to be leaving," Falere replied.

Checking her chronometer, Matriarch Gallae silently swore to herself before turning back to Wrex. "Thank you for such a thrilling story, but we must be leaving now."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Wrex replied dismissively.

"Thanks for a good time," Rila said with a bright smile. "It really was a sweet love story."

Wrex jerked back in surprise. "Was not!" he called after the Asari as she followed her fellows out of the 'lounge.'

"Sounded like one to me," the bartender said as she wiped of the counter. "You stuck around calling to her as the station went up. You must've cared about her."

"She was a contract, nothing more," a silver Turian said as he jumped into the conversation. "There was no love for the woman, just love for the hunt. That's what sets Turians and Krogan apart from you Asari. We enjoy a good fight whereas you just toy with your victims."

"Doesn't make us any less lethal, Arterius," the Matriarch-bartender replied.

"Nor am I saying it does. I'm just saying that there wasn't a thing between the Krogan and the Asari."

"What's the point in jumping into a conversation you weren't invited into?" Wrex asked.

"You didn't mind the Matriarch barging in."

"Her kind didn't sterilize my people, Turian," Wrex practically growled as he stood up and walked out of the bar.

"That's hardly fair," the Turian said as he followed Wrex out of the door. "Sure the Turians dropped the Genophage, but the Salarians developed it and the Asari? Well, they just stood by and let it happen. They didn't even **try** to stop us. Why hold so much hate towards us if they're a part of it too?"

"What do you want, Turian?" Wrex growled.

"To make a deal," the Turian replied. "My name is Saren Arterius, Council SPECTRE…" Saren began.

"I'm not interested in being a damned puppet for the Council for the fifty-eighth time," Wrex interrupted.

"What?" Saren asked in confusion. "No, no, no. I'm not here to offer you an invitation to join the SPECTREs, I'm here to offer a future to your people. You know as well as everyone else does that Krogan have tried cloning theirselves to cure the Genophage, but something always go wrong, right? Well, it just so happens that I know **why** it goes wrong. You've been using **Salarian** cloning technology so of course it's designed to keep you from using it to make Genophage-free Krogan, but I'm not… associated with the Salarians in that sense."

"What are you talking about, Turian?" Wrex asked in a deadly tone.

"I have in my possession a piece of Prothean technology known as a 'Matrix.' It's a Prothean cloning device that doesn't carry the taint of Salarian interference," Saren replied.

"What's the catch then? Why not just start making your damned army of clones?" Wrex asked, his tone getting darker with each passing second.

"The device has but one flaw; the stronger the strength of the genes that go in to the clone, the stronger the strength of the genes that come out. So far the Krogan we've attempted to clone produce weak-willed Krogan that can't put on their own boots, but you… you're a living legend. Your strength is undeniable. You'd be the perfect specimen."

"I'm not about to let you take my genes and create an army of Krogan loyal to whatever twisted cause you're supporting," Wrex shouted as he stopped off.

"Again, you misunderstand. I have only one goal, Wrex. I want to fix the biggest mistake history has ever seen made. I want to undo the Genophage and restore the Krogan to their former glory."

"Why?" Wrex asked.

"I'm dying," Saren replied sadly. "I'll be dead in a few years, but… I have the unshakable feeling that my soul won't be going somewhere pleasant. I want to fix that, not only for myself, but for the rest of my people as well. I want to fix the mistake that the Salarians, Asari, and Turians made together so that we can all rest in piece. It has to be you because you're the only Krogan I know that isn't going to cure the Genophage then take over the galaxy."

"You don't know me," Wrex countered.

"No, but I do know your reputation. You're respectable, and I like that."

Wrex was silent for a long while. Finally making up his mind, Wrex said, "I'm listening."

***Sentry Omega (Hoc)***

**Virmire (Surface)**

*Main Base (Holding Cells) [two days later]*

There was writing all over the walls in a language that the man who wrote the words couldn't even understand. It was a mixture of languages from multiple societies from multiple… cycles. There was no better word for the feeling that consumed Ryan. An unmistakable feeling of death and destruction overwhelmed his dreams, both waking and sleeping. It wasn't a very pleasant feeling, to say the least.

"I'm getting tired of this," a Turian guard complained to another. "All he does is sit there staring out of the window. What are we guarding anyway?"

"Just do your job and stop your bitching," the other replied.

The other Turian made a move to counter that statement, but ended up with a broken neck before the words could leave his mouth. Then there was the distinctive sound of a lightning blade activating before the next Turian was stabbed through the chest. Two Human figures stepped into the light. One of them had an Omni-tool still glowing from the effects of holding a concentrated blast of lightning in their hand. The other was cracking their knuckles.

"It took you long enough," Ryan said as he stood up from the ground.

"Gabriella's sense of timing was being… picky," Derek said as he flexed his fingers. No doubt he had hit the Turian hard enough that it would've broken his fingers had he not been wearing armored gloves.

"They have an entire fleet in orbit," Gabriella added defensively. "We had to time it just right so that we could slip past the ships in orbit. You'll get over it."

"I still don't get how you knew when they'd be out of formation," Derek replied.

"You don't need to understand it," Gabriella said as she hacked Ryan's cell door. "You just have to follow orders."

"You don't even out rank me!" Derek argued.

"We need to find Anderson and Coré," Ryan interrupted them.

"Coré's… not on our side anymore," Derek replied.

"The Turians did something to her. She lost her mind and attacked us. We… ended up running," Gabriella added.

"What do you mean she lost her mind?" Ryan asked.

"I'm not sure. She was standing outside of her cell like she had broken free, but, when we approached her, she attacked us," Derek explained.

"So that's what he meant," Ryan mused.

"What do you mean, boss?" Derek asked.

"Desolas said that none could resist the voice of Sovereign. He brainwashed her," Ryan replied.

"Yeah, we also found Anderson…" Derek trailed off.

"What happened to him?" Ryan asked.

"The Turians were trying to expose him to the Monolith. Naturally he fought back and we did manage to rescue him in time, but Andy and Cassidy had to take him back to the ship. He's a little out of it, but he should be fine. He wasn't actually exposed to the device so much as he was just totally exhausted. They've been running scans and tests on him for the past two days getting him ready for his exposure. As far as I can tell, it just wasn't able to sleep during all that. He'll be fine," Gabriella assured him.

"We got some more Intel on that thing though. Overheard the Turians talking while we were crawling through the air ducts," Derek added. "Desolas said that they can't find the mechanism that binds the meta-Turians to the Monolith, but they know enough to say they're bounded to it. He also said that the bond was strong, transcendental, and because of it the meta-Turians will do anything and everything to protect it."

"Basically he's trying to raise an army of the damned things, but we can't really say why for sure," Gabriella continued as they made their way through the base. "He'll have an entire army of 'perfect Turians' that'll never need to rest, and they'll never yield. The last thing we heard him say was something along the lines of 'The time for equality among races is now in the past and that destiny is at hand.' Then he said something about it beginning tonight."

"Desolas is an idiot. He doesn't realize what he's playing with!" Ryan said as they snuck through the halls. "He's going to unleash a hell the likes of which we've never seen before."

"Why do you say that?" Derek asked.

"Because, Lieutenant, I have seen the future that Desolas is trying to make and it is not a future I wish to see come to fruition," Ryan replied.

***Morte Nebula (Guerra System)***

**Shanxi (Surface)**

*Random Building (Roof)*

Nick stood, back to the edge of the building, posture perfect, his eyes focused on the assembled crowd before him. Behind him the ruined sections of the city that was once a great place to live still burned as Alliance relief forces streamed down from orbit. Medical evac shuttles flew through the skies, ferrying wounded to the ships in orbit that were better equipped to handle the injuries. There was even one building that was slowly succumbing to gravity.

It was the perfect backdrop.

Nick cleared his throat and the cameras came to life, the images they were capturing were being broadcasted to every planet, ship, station, and facility in Alliance Space. "The day we have feared, dreaded, and prepared for has finally arrived. Something out there has discovered us. Though they are not the Protheans we expected to encounter, they are just as violent natured, just as warlike. A group of three civilian freighters belonging to the Heavy Metals Exo-mining of Shanxi Corporation ignored all warnings of civilians leaving Alliance Territory and crossed through the Shanxi-Theta Relay in search of a new world to mine. They were trying to get ahead of the game, to get rich fast. Due to their arrogance, their lack of concern for their fellow man, our time of peace has come to an end.

"The three freighters approached Relay 314 and attempted to bypass the military lockout the Alliance Navy had placed on the Relay. Already our own expeditionary forces had crossed Relay 314 and found evidence of hostile alien life-forms. For this reason, the Relay was locked down to prevent anyone from coming through. The three civilian ships attempted to open the Relay and, in the process of doing so, alerted a race known as the Turians to our presence. The Turians stormed through the Relay and opened fire on two of the three ships, destroying them without warning or provocation. The Turian fleet then followed the remaining ship back to Shanxi when they attempted to flee. The initial Turian fleet was destroyed by Shanxi defensive forces, but the Turians only took that a sign to send a larger force rather than taking it as a sign to leave us be.

"Already the death toll on Shanxi has broken the one-thousand mark. Already the total damage to the economy has been calculated to be millions of dollars worth of repairs. Already the infrastructural damages are estimated to take two years to fix. The damage to the Alliance economy as a whole will be felt by all. Now, more than ever, is the time for unity. Now, more than ever, is the time for us to come together as one community and help our neighbors. Shanxi needs aid. The people need food, clean water, materials to rebuild, and labor. The Alliance Navy cannot provide all of this. We must prepare for the enemy's return. And so I come to you, the common man, and I ask you for help in this matter.

"Something out there has discovered us," Nick repeated. At this point, the building that was slowly collapsing behind finally gave out and toppled to its demise. "The Turians counted on the Humans to hide," Nick said as the building crashed to the ground with a thunderous boom. "They counted on us to give up," he continued as a plum of dust rose into the air. "They counted on us to fail. They never considered our ability to stand," a fighter squadron flew overhead and a medical shuttle came to a landing on a building across the street. "They never considered our ability to endure," the wounded exited the building, soldiers being held up by civilian volunteers helping to get the injured soldiers evacuated to the medical facilities in orbit. "They never considered that we would rise to the challenge!" an Alliance Heavy Cruiser came to a hover over the city, humanitarian shuttles launching from its primary shuttle bay.

"The Optimist thinks this is the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears it is true." J. Robert Oppenheimer first spoke these words during the events of World War II when he was helping with the development of the atomic bomb.

"Oppenheimer's words resonate today not only for their historical significance, but for their emotional gravity. So too, do the Humans of the Systems Alliance grapple with the personal cycle of pride, destruction, and regret. In life, like in dreams, this sequence is not always linear and sometimes true remorse penetrates the devastating cycle. The hope then springs from the notion that the possibility of change is born in our most harrowing moments. Today, at the end of our hope, at the end of our time, we have chosen to believe in each other. Today we face the aliens that are standing on our doorstep. Today we declare to these Turians that we will not bow to the whims of those who unjustly believe themselves our masters! Today we are canceling the apocalypse! Hail the phoenix!"

"HAIL THE PHOENIX!" the assembled crowd shouted in unison, but it did not stop there.

From every person on every world in every system the phrase echoed across all of Alliance Territory. So loud was the uproar that, had the assembled population been gathered in one place, it would have defended them all. On Earth, it used to be said that attacking the Americans was like waking a sleeping giant. That no longer described humanity's will to fight for their freedom. Giants could be slain by even the smallest person as David had slain Goliath with only a slingshot. Humanity had long since evolved into something far more lethal than a giant.

Humanity had evolved into a creature that was immortal, immune to the ravages of time. Their will to survive had no equal. As a species, they were endless, unconquerable. If they died in battle, they would only be reborn from the ashes. If they passed away from the passage of time, they would be reborn from the ashes. If they fell at the hands of another, they would be reborn from the ashes. Humanity was no longer a sleeping giant. Humanity was now a phoenix.

And the Turians would have to learn that the hard way.

****Alliance Naval Codex: Tier 3 Access Required****

***Primary Codex Entry***

**Starships**

*Dreadnoughts*

*Sub Entry: Prothean Standards*

The Galactic Codex found on Mars had several key bits of information provided on Prothean Dreadnoughts. The Prothean Codex mentions that the Dreadnought is to be the ultimate arbiter of space warfare with millions of tons of metal, ceramic, and polymer dedicated to the projection of firepower against an enemy vessel of like ability. No sane Prothean Commander would face a Dreadnought with anything less than another Dreadnought. The idea of such a powerful ship was intriguing to Alliance engineers.

As a Dreadnought's power lies in the length of its main gun, Prothean Dreadnoughts tend to range from one-kilometer long to one-point-five-kilometers long, with a main gun of commensurate length. An eight-hundred-meter mass accelerator is capable of accelerating one twenty-kilogram slug to a velocity of four-thousand-twenty-five kilometers-per-second (one-point-three-percent the of light speed) every two seconds. Each slug has the kinetic energy of thirty-eight kilotons of TNT, three times the energy released by the fission weapon that destroyed Hiroshima which is enough energy to destroy the infrastructure of a mid-sized city and kill half a million people.

When used to bombard planets, some of this kinetic energy is lost due to atmospheric re-entry friction. As a rule of thumb, each Earth-atmosphere of air pressure saps approximately twenty-percent of a projectile's impact energy.

****Alliance Naval Codex: Tier 1 Access Required****

***Primary Codex Entry***

**Starships**

*Dreadnoughts*

*Sub Entry: Alliance Kilimanjaro-Class*

The Systems Alliance Kilimanjaro-Class Dreadnought is a massive vessel measuring in at just over nine-hundred meters. Knowing that they weren't the ones to have built the Relay Network and knowing that the Protheans were a race inclined to violent takeovers, the Systems Alliance's naval engineers designed the Kilimanjaro-Class from the ground up to be the ultimate defensive weapons platform. The Kilimanjaro-Class Dreadnought is equipped with a GARDIAN array that surpasses even that of Alliance Frigates. The key to a Kilimanjaro's defense grid is that it utilizes an extensive network of three types of GARDIAN cannons.

On the forward most bow of the ship are the offensive GARDIAN lasers. Firing a focused green beam of intense heat energy, the forward GARDIAN array has the range needed to strike at Cruisers and Frigates long before they're able to close with an Alliance fleet. Near the middle of the ship's hull are the secondary GARDIAN array's cannons. These fire beams of blue light that spread out faster than the green GARDIAN lasers do, but slower than the standard red GARDIAN array does. These weapons are used to pick off enemy fighters before they're able to close and unleash their Disruptor Torpedoes. Lastly are the standard red GARDIAN array cannons that are used to pick off enemy Disruptor Torpedoes before they can impact the Dreadnought or its fleet should enemy forces manage to close enough to enter Disruptor Torpedo range.

Alliance Kilimanjaro-Class Dreadnoughts are also equipped with two main cannons. The primary cannon fires a powerful round based off of the Prothean standards (see Codex entry "Prothean Standards" for more details). The secondary cannon is of Alliance design and utilizes technology gained from studying the Prothean Super Dreadnought found buried beneath Terra Renatus. Using this more advanced and more modern Prothean technology, Systems Alliance engineers increased the firepower of the secondary weapon by one-hundred-fifty percent, but at the cost of firing speed. The secondary cannon takes a full half of a minute to recharge.

Alliance Kilimanjaro-Class Dreadnoughts are named after mountain ranges of Earth.

Sub-Note: of the six planned Kilimanjaro-Class Dreadnoughts, only three are completed with the frame of the forth still under construction.

****Alliance Naval Codex: Tier 1 Access Required****

***Primary Codex Entry***

**Starships**

*Dreadnoughts*

*Sub Entry: Alliance Everest-Class*

Despite the Kilimanjaro's size, the Everest-Class Dreadnought is larger. Measuring in at one-point-two-kilometers, the Everest-Class Dreadnought was designed from the ground up to be the ultimate offensive weapons platform. Where the Kilimanjaro-Class Dreadnought has an extensive array of GARDIAN cannons, the Everest-Class Dreadnought has a small number of particle cannons. A weapon presumably of Prothean origins, the particle cannons found on the Prothean Super Dreadnought buried on Terra Renatus had the rather frightening ability to bypass kinetic barriers as if they weren't even there and cut through armor with relative ease. Everest-Class Dreadnoughts are equipped with six of these weapons.

Due to massive power drain and rapid heat build up from the particle cannons, the power core on the Everest-Class Dreadnought had to be modeled after the Prothean Super Dreadnought's power core. This left the ship with a generator powerful enough to generate a kinetic barrier strong enough to survive a full frontal assault from an Alliance Kilimanjaro-Class Dreadnought's own weapons grid with minimal power loss.

Alliance Everest-Class Dreadnoughts are also equipped with four main cannons. The two primary cannons fire powerful rounds based off of the Prothean standards (see Codex entry "Prothean Standards" for more details). The secondary cannons are of Alliance design and utilize technology gained from studying the Prothean Super Dreadnought found buried beneath Terra Renatus. Using this more advanced and more modern Prothean technology, Systems Alliance engineers increased the firepower of the secondary weapons by one-hundred-fifty percent, but at the cost of firing speed. The secondary cannons take a full half of a minute to recharge.

Alliance Everest-Class Dreadnoughts are named after mountain ranges of Reach.

Sub-Note One: the mountain ranges of Reach, for the most part, are named after the mountain ranges of Earth.

Sub-Note Two: of the three planned Everest-Class Dreadnoughts, only one is nearly completed with the frames of the other two still on hold until further resources become available.

****Alliance Naval Codex: Tier 4 Access Required****

***Primary Codex Entry***

**Technology**

*Small Arms*

When the Mars Expedition first found the Prothean arms locker in the bunker on Mars, they discovered weapons that used eezo to create railguns that fired small bullets the size of a grain of sand at rapid speeds with little to no recoil. The first batch of weapons produced by Alliance engineers after the formation of the Systems Alliance were modeled after these weapons. Three years later, Alliance engineers had a "face-palm moment" when one of their own pointed out that mass is a factor of energy. Put simply, by reducing the mass of the bullet they were able to fly faster, but at the cost of impact force. Alliance engineers then scrapped all known Prothean small arms technology and started over from scratch.

When Alliance engineers began their redesign of space-age small arms, the first thing they did was to increase the size of the bullet fired. While the sentiment "bigger isn't always better" wasn't abandoned when humanity left Earth, common sense dictates that a bullet the size of a grain of sand will leave a wound that is easily sealed while a fifty caliber bullet will leave a hole that will not be as easily treated, especially if the acceleration is kept at a high rate.

The second matter that Alliance engineers addressed was the matter of mass effect small arms technology overheating and leaving a soldier with a gun that wouldn't fire. To solve this problem, Alliance engineers created a universally designed, removable heat sink known as a "thermal clip." This small, ejectable heat sink is then replaced by another that is cool and ready to fire. Alliance Marines wear special belts that hold super-heated thermal clips suspended in a specialized gel until they are cool enough to be used again. This system allows Alliance soldiers, standard Marines and specialists alike, to continue firing long after their enemy's weapon has overheated. As an added safety precaution, Alliance engineers also left the original, non-removable heat sink built into the weapon. This allows soldiers to continue firing even if their thermal clips are all super-heated, though the weapon then goes back to overheating and needing time to cool off and the built in heat sink is nowhere near as efficient as the thermal clips.

**Author's Note**

There seems to be quiet a bit of confusion coming from the few reviews I've gotten, so I'm going to point out a few things that I honestly thought were kind of obvious...

#1) This is Fall of the Gods Book 2: Phoenix Effect which means that, yes, this book comes after Colonials on the Run and before Reasons We Fear the Dark. I've already had three people ask me about that, and, just to clarify, yes, at the end of this book Earth will be consumed in a blast of light and radiation before being replaced with the Stargate Universe's Earth. After that, Reasons We Fear the Dark will be rewritten to fix the grammar errors and plot holes before I get around to rewriting The Circle for the same reasons. After that I'll pick up The Covenant and the story will continue on to its conclusion in When Heaven Falls, Earth Rises, though I'm thinking of changing that to be more along the lines of When the Gods Fall, the Mortals will Rise so that it's less Human-centric and more inclined to be about the fate of the galaxy as a whole.

#2) The fact that I have to put this out there annoys me greatly because it implies that people are so quick to judge, but, just to be clear, I HAVE NOTHING AGAINST THE RUSSIANS! The reasons behind Rascals' March will be revealed much, much later (trust me, you're not gonna see this one coming). The reason I chose the Russians as the main bad-guy there was the fact that the Russians already have a nuclear arsenal and are both large enough and well trained enough to take on the world with a few things working to their benefit (such as Earth not being united against them until the very end). So many reviewers and PM-ers have "suggested" or "implied" that I'm racist against the Russians because I had them destroy the world… wow, just wow. You know those things they have at the beginning of most TV specials that says "The following program does not necessarily represent the views and opinions of insert channel name here"? Well I'm officially adding that to the disclaimer for this book…

"The following story does not necessarily represent the views and opinions of the author."

Now that that's been squared away, I'll let you in on my reasoning. The Russian landmass is large enough that they could hide several very powerful military bases in the tundras far from the prying eyes of the rest of the world. This means that they could, theoretically, build entire armies in secret. Also, the Russians already had nukes. Yes I could've used the North Koreans, but, quiet frankly, they don't even have the capability to launch ICBMs carrying nukes. Seriously, just watch the news (that doesn't necessarily mean that I believe everything on TV). According to my college physics teacher (a very well educated man), the North Koreans still use chemically propelled rockets and only recently managed to get a missile into orbit and it still can't carry a nuke… yet, though they are getting closer. That having been said, Iraq and Iran are similarly too small and too underdeveloped to pose a threat TO THE WORLD AS A WHOLE whereas the Russians could, in theory, have resources not known to the rest of us. The Middle East, being as unstable as is it, is constantly being watched by multiple countries and can't develop shit without us knowing about it.

#3) Now that the matter of me being racist has, hopefully, been clarified, I'd like to pose a question… What do you, the reader, think of the story so far? More importantly, how do you like my modified versions of the Mass Effect Codex entries? I literally took the Codex off of the internet and rewrote it to meet the technical and cultural standards of this book. You'll be seeing a lot of Codex entries in this book, and I'm thinking of adding others to the rest of the series as well, but first I really want to know what you think of the Codex entries and ask if there are any particular areas of technology or culture that you want me to elaborate on specifically? If so, I'll write up a Codex entry to answer any questions asked, or post one I've already rewritten. Either way, questions asked about this story will be replied to in Codex entries.

*Note: If I add any Codex entries to Colonials on the Run, they'll be Furling Codex entries or modified entries to fit Stargate tech, though I'm happy with how COTR came out and really, **really** don't want to rewrite anything else in it.

#4) The character of Gabriella has raised several questions from several people. Yes, this is AU Gabi from COTR, and no she does not have special powers. She has a secret, yes, but you won't learn more about that until the **very** end. *evil laugh* Don't ask me why you have wait, all I'll say is that it's a surprise and that there's an entire chapter dedicated to explaining why she has such an impeccable sense of timing.

Other than that, so far this story's gotten pretty good reception, though I have had a few people ask me about The Circle. The story wasn't abandoned, there's only one more chapter to add to it before I'll consider it complete and will move on to writing The Covenant (which will actually be about fighting the Covenant, unlike the last book that I renamed The Circle... sorry about that by the way). Also, before I post that particular chapter, I'm fixing RWFTD and redoing the grammar in the existing chapters of The Circle. It'll take awhile, but the story will be all the more enjoyable once the back-story is actually set in stone, so to speak. On a side note, there's one more part to Shanxi before we move on to the Human counterassault and, after that, another chapter with a time-jump to set up the Systems Alliance relationship with the Citadel Council, then we finally get to Mindoir and things pick up from there.

One last note, leave a review! I've gotten so few it's hard to tell if anyone's really reading this book. I know it's backtracking from the story and that most people don't like that, but, at this point, I can't even tell if all of the returning Fall of the Gods fans have picked up on the existence of a new book yet.


	7. Shanxi Part 4 The Arca Monolith

Chapter 5

Shanxi Part 4

_The Arca Monolith_

***Sentry Omega (Hoc)***

**Virmire (Surface)**

*Main Base (Cloning Facility)*

"This thing's your cloning device?" Wrex asked as he stood before a large and oddly shaped pod-like chamber.

"These are the cloning tanks, yes, but the Matrix itself is actually housed in the control room. These are just what allow us to produce more than one Krogan at a time so that we can experiment with the DNA structures and be sure the Genophage is cured for all Krogan as opposed to only finding a cure for a few of them," Saren replied.

"How many tanks are there?"

"A few hundred."

"Why so few?" Wrex asked darkly.

"Don't get me wrong, Wrex. I'm not interested in raising an army. I just don't have a lot of time left, and I'd like to actually see what the Krogan can become before I die. I see a great amount of potential in your species, Wrex, even if the Council was blinded by fear. The Genophage was a mistake. One I intend to rectify before my own demise," Saren explained in a… very… charming…

'_What was I thinking again?'_ Wrex thought to himself as he felt a little light headed.

"Come, let me show you where the salvation of your species will lead to the redemption of my own as well as that of the Asari, Salarians, and everyone else that stood by and watched as the Krogan race was struck down for no reason other than a few bad leaders inspiring the worst in others. I'm sure you'll be quite pleased," Saren said as he led the way towards the control room located at the top of a tower.

Off in the distance, Wrex could see a massive, two-kilometer tower armed with heavy weapons all aimed at the skies and space above them. "Heavy security you've got here," Wrex mused.

"There are many who would see the work we perform here not bear fruit. The defensive stations are just to assure that we're not stopped before the Krogan regain their rightful place in the galaxy," Saren replied smoothly.

"Why does that defense tower look like a squid?" Wrex asked.

"It's a Prothean thing, apparently. They used to inhabit this world, that's why we found the Matrix here. That thing was… dug up. I believe the Protheans called them some word that doesn't really translate very well. Either way, it's there for our protection to assure we're not interrupted," Saren said again.

"Sounds good to me," Wrex replied as he followed the Turian into an elevator. When they finally reached the top of the tower, Saren led Wrex over to another pod, this one larger and much smoother around the edges. It had a strange flow to its curves. "Weird looking machine," Wrex commented.

"Yes, the Matrix is, by far, the strangest Prothean device I've ever encountered. I know it's Prothean because I found mention of it in a fragment of their Codex on a data disk I recovered in the Terminus Systems, but it really doesn't look like any known Prothean architecture I've ever seen," Saren agreed.

"SPECTREs in the Terminus Systems," Wrex grumbled. "The Council's always sticking its nose where it doesn't belong."

"I have to agree with you there, my friend."

"We're not friends," Wrex countered. "Not yet."

"Fair enough," Saren replied. "If you step into the pod, I'll start the scans we need to begin the process of curing the Genophage."

"Whatever," Wrex muttered as he stepped into the tank and it sealed around him. "This is boring," Wrex mused.

"_**Rudimentary creature of blood and flesh, you have been chosen above all others to serve your Sovereign."**_

The voice was ominous, deep, and spoke directly into Wrex's mind. It was not a feeling he enjoyed. "What the hell are you supposed to be?" Wrex asked the voice in his head.

"_**Designation Krogan, you touch my mind, fumbling in ignorance, incapable of understanding. There is a realm of existence so far beyond the horizon of your own comprehension that you cannot imagine it. **__**I**__** am beyond your comprehension. I am Sovereign."**_

"What do you want with me?" Wrex asked, clearly pissed.

"_**The one called Saren has explained this already. Your help is needed to ascend the Krogan to their rightful place in the galaxy. For too long has your own kind fought amongst and killed one another. For too long have your people lived as mercenaries, hired guns to be used by others. This must change.**_

"_**Your kind is not below the others as they wish you to believe. You are superior. Your genes are strong, your power absolute. I offer you a chance to bring back what once was. I offer your people a future. In exchange we desire but one thing."**_

"And what would that be?" Wrex asked, his tone becoming far less hostile with each passing moment as a comfortable haze fell over his mind.

"_**Great and powerful people never rise unopposed. There are those in this galaxy that would sooner see your kind go extinct then allow you to rise from the ashes of Tuchanka. They must be eliminated by your hand. This will be a test of worthiness. You will prove yourself worthy of our cause. Only then will your species be rewarded with their salvation. Preparations will be made.**_

"_**Armies will be raised. Already the ones known as the Geth have been subtly altered to believe as we do. They will provide an army of synthetics, but they are incapable of infiltrating the organic societies. This will be your duty. The first batches of clones are doomed to fail, as is the way of trial-and-error sciences. They will be used to further our goals. You must agree to this."**_

"Yeah, yeah," Wrex replied. "There's no place for cloned rejects in Krogan society either way. Go ahead and use them as you see fit."

"_**Your cooperation has been noted. You are one step closer to securing your people's future. The Krogan shall rise from the ashes of Tuchanka and retake what is rightfully theirs. The Krogan will rise, and the Citadel Council will fall, and you personally will be rewarded for being the vanguard of their salvation. You will be given upgrades, gifts from the gods. The clones will receive them first to be sure you are physically able to handle their power. Then your form will be improved to make certain the rise of the Krogan cannot be halted. You shall be blessed with greatness."**_

Outside of the pod, Saren stood at his terminal typing away at the controls to the Matrix. There was a hiss and the pods below them began to fill with a fluid that would provide sustenance to the clones that would soon be added to the mixture. A Geth Prime approached him, its eyes glowing red.

"Sovereign," Saren said with a bow.

"_**The Krogan's assistance has been assured. Begin the prearranged modifications to the clones. I will await your report on the first batch."**_

"Yes, Sovereign," Saren replied with another bow.

*Main Base (Halls)*

"Don't move, Human, or you're dead!" a Turian surrounded by meta-Turians demanded as Derek and Ryan came to a skidding halt.

"Shit," Derek swore as he failed to see a way out of their current situation. He was a CQC specialist, yes, but they were surrounded at range and Ryan's only weapon available was a Predator Heavy Pistol. Not as much kick in those guns as there were in the Carnifex variants.

"Drop your weapons!" the Turian ordered.

"Remind me again why you're not carrying a rifle," Ryan practically growled as he dropped his pistol and held his hands up in surrender.

"Keep your hands where I can see them," the harshly barked.

"I had one, I swear, but Cassidy made me give it to Anderson," Derek replied.

"As if you wouldn't need it yourself!" Ryan snapped.

"Stop talking," the Turian ordered.

"Well pardon me, Mister High-and-mighty," Derek said as he dropped his hands from the air to being crossed over his chest in a stance of defiance. "Last time I checked, it was your brilliant plan that got us all in this fucked up situation to begin with, so why don't you fucking find a way out?"

"I said stop talk…" the Turian began before an explosion blew the wall next to him into the hall they were standing in. The Turian was crushed by the debris along with the rest of the meta-Turians.

"Took you long enough," Derek mumbled as he picked up Ryan's pistol and tossed it over his shoulder for his CO.

"I waited exactly five-minutes and forty-eight-seconds like Gabriella told me to before detonating the charges," the unmistakable voice of their resident biotic said.

"Kai Leng, what are you doing here?" Ryan asked.

"Yeah, I honestly thought that was Gabriella," Derek added.

"I thought Gabriella was with you," Leng replied.

"She was, but she ran down a different hallway three minutes ago and said she was regrouping with you!" Derek practically shouted as he started to freak out.

"She said that she had to shut off some type of jamming device before we could leave then told me to wait exactly five-minutes and forty-eight-seconds before I detonated the charges. I was under the impression she was working with the two of you," Leng said in a much calmer tone. Then again, the guy was really hard to frazzle.

"Gabriella never acts without a plan, though I honestly wish she would let us in on her damned plans more often," Ryan said as he stepped through the hole in the wall Leng had created. "We have our own job. We have to destroy that damned Monolith before Desolas creates anymore of his damned meta-Turians. Get moving!"

*Main Base (Halls) [a few minutes later]*

"Where the hell have you been?" Derek asked harshly when Gabriella skidded into cover beside him.

"I told Kai Leng to tell you I had destroy their jamming device," Gabriella replied smoothly. "We can leave now, and bomb the damned base from orbit. I suggest we get to the shuttle."

A well tossed grenade from Leng blew up the last two meta-Turians that were advancing on them. "I find that story to be hard to believe. I know what I heard," Leng countered.

"We don't have time for this!" Ryan shouted as he led the way further into the base. They were approaching the center now and they could see flashes of light coming from the distance. When they finally reached the room, they entered on the top balcony and took up positions in the darkest corners of the room so as not to be seen. Below them they witnessed something disturbing.

In the room with the Monolith were the meta-Turians and several normal Turians unconscious on the ground. Lagrion, a young Turian tugged at his mother's dress and said, "Mommy, I don't like the Priests. They just don't look right."

"Stay strong, Lagrion. If we go through with this, then no more Turians will die in war. Desolas promised…" his mother began.

The woman trailed off when one of the Priests, merely a meta-Turian in a fancy robe, walked over and grabbed the young boy and threw him at the Monolith. There was a flash of light and the young boy fell to the ground, unmoving as the transformation process began. Why Turians appeared to take longer to mutate than Ben and Jack had was beyond the Humans watching from above.

"Can… can I see him?" the child's mother asked. Her reply was the meta-Turian then throwing her at the Monolith as well.

On the ground beside the device, Desolas watched on with a smile that sent a shiver up Ryan's spine.

"Time to inspect the troops," Desolas declared to no one in particular as the meta-Turians lined up before him. Ryan was, for whatever reason, the only person who could understand them, though he suspected that will have changed by the time they got back to Terra. After all, the Mars Expedition had created one hell of a translation program after they had broken into the Prothean bunker on Mars.

"These aren't troops, not yet," Nihlus countered as he eyed the meta-Turians. "They're too simple-minded and don't obey orders. I thought you said the damned Human would fix that."

"The Human hasn't spoken in the past two days," Desolas replied. "Nevertheless, the other one is being prepped for his exposure as we speak. Perhaps 'Anderson' will be more cooperative."

"You're underestimating these Human," Nihlus argued.

"We have the divine power of Sovereign at our side. We are his agents, the hands that carry out his deeds. We cannot fail with the will of a god driving us forward," Desolas said in a tone of awe.

There was a strange looking machine in the room, apart from the Monolith. It was tall, stark white, and had a flashlight for a head. It was also clearly synthetic in origin. "Looks like we're not the only ones out here with these Turian bastards," Derek whispered. "Whoever that one used to be, it looks badass now. I hope there aren't many of them."

"_**Designation Nihlus, you doubt us."**_

The voice shook the room with its very utterance. It felt as if it came from everywhere, yet clearly originated from the white machine.

"It's not you that I doubt," Nihlus replied respectfully, going as far as to bow to the meta-whatever race it used to be. "It's this Monolith that I doubt."

"_**The Monolith was created by the Harbinger to warn us when a race had risen that was ready for the harvest. It is not a means of producing soldiers. It must be altered to assure the ascension of the Turian species. The work will take time, but is no less important than cloning the Krogan. An army must be raised before the Citadel can be targeted. Your current forces are not yet strong enough to perform the task assigned to you. Have faith, and be patient. Desolas is working as fast as he can. If he is not, then he will be dealt with appropriately."**_

"I live only to serve the cause," Desolas replied, also with a deep bow to the machine.

The machine then spoke again, but not, however, until after its glowing red eye had turned a threatening shade of orange. _"Kryik-SPECTRE, this unit has detected hostile organic life-forms on the balcony above you. We are summing additional Geth units to recapture the Designation Humans."_

"Shit!" Derek swore before popping out of cover and tossing a flash bang grenade. "Run!" he shouted, but Ryan shook his head. "What do you mean 'no'?" Derek asked.

"We have to destroy that thing!" Ryan argued.

"Then let's get it over with!" Leng said before jumping off of the balcony. He landed, sword in hand, and charged at the nearest meta-Turian.

"I really hate that guy," Derek muttered before jumping to the ground floor as well.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Gabriella shouted. "We had the tactical advantage up here, you idiots!" Her comment was ignored, however, as Ryan quickly joined the others on the ground floor. "I'm surrounded by fucking idiots!" Gabriella shouted with grit teeth before dashing off into the shadows.

*Main Base (Cloning Facility) [a few minutes earlier]*

"The first batch of clones won't be fully matured for a few months, but that gives us time to alter their DNA and examine the Genophage virus more closely," Saren said as Wrex stepped out of the small tube he had been locked in for the past few hours.

"I'm no scientist, so I have no idea why you're telling me this. Just point me at whoever needs to die and I'll be on my way," Wrex replied.

"I see he has spoken to you," Saren said with a knowing smile. "Sovereign tends to have that affect on people. The enemies that Sovereign mentioned needed killing are scattered throughout the stars. Your first duty, however, is a mission to kidnap a Salarian scientist. As long as you bring him back alive and you're not followed, we don't really care how you go about doing it."

"Where is he?" Wrex asked in a determined tone.

"Doctor Saleon was recently chased off of the Citadel by C-Sec for conducting illegal genetic experiments and cloning tissue of living subjects while using them as his own test tubes. Long story short, he managed to get away with the clever application of hostages. His ship, the _MSV Fedele_, is on course for the Terminus Systems, but you should be able to intercept him using something faster. The Doctor changed his name to Heart and should be in the Herschel System of the Kepler Verge in a few hours. You can take one of the shuttles on the landing pad. I'd offer you more help, but the Geth would only draw suspicion and cause you more trouble than they're worth. We'll hold them in reserve for later, but right now the Doctor is needed."

"I'll be back in a day or so," Wrex muttered as he marched off, gun in hand.

"You did a good job with him," Saren mused as he spoke to the red-eyed Prime beside him.

"_**Weak-willed organics are easily controlled through Indoctrination."**_

"That Krogan doesn't strike me as being weak-willed," Saren replied.

"_**He believes in his people whether he wishes to admit to himself or not. Manipulation of the Krogan's feelings provided a better option than Indoctrination in this situation. A tactical appraisal noted this and seamless adjustments to the plan were made."**_

"Of course, Sovereign," Saren said with a bow before the Geth's eye turned orange again.

***Morte Nebula (Guerra System)***

**Shanxi (Orbit)**

*_SSV Aconcagua_ (CIC)*

"When will the _Everest_ be ready to launch?" Nick asked as he leaned over the holo-tank displaying the Dreadnought in question.

"_She's a few hours from having her final system checks completed. We tested everything on the ship from the weapons to the barriers, the engines to the armor a few weeks ago. We're finishing the tertiary redundancy checks now to be sure the ship really is at peak performance. So far everything checks out and most of the systems are actually performing better than we'd hoped,"_ Hackett replied.

"I want the _Kilimanjaro_, the _Everest_, and the _McKay_ added to Second Fleet for the duration of this operation. As soon as the _Everest_'s checks are done we'll make a move to take out the colony our probes detected a few systems over," Nick said.

"Mister President, are you sure that's wise?" Admiral Drescher asked.

"Admiral, while I appreciate a solid voice of reason in a high ranking officer, you appear to be missing the point of this operation," Nick replied.

"The point, sir?"

"They know where we are, they're hostile, and they're going to come back. If we don't hit them soon and hit them hard, they could mobilize an entire armada and storm the Relay. We don't have the manpower to play defense, not when it's our worlds at risk. Our population is simply too small to risk exposing our people to open warfare in our territory. If the Turians keep bombing planets the way they did Shanxi, we'll lose more people than I'm willing to accept. This is offensive will be our way of keeping the enemy too preoccupied to reform their ranks and make an assault on another of our worlds."

"We could try negotiating peace," the Admiral pleaded.

"_Negotiate peace with a race that bombed a civilian world for no reason better than they caught someone trying to activate a Relay? You give them too much credit, Admiral. A race that stupid, that blind, isn't going to accept peace, not after the losses we inflicted on them. Their pride is wounded, their egos are damaged, and they will be back to fix that. We have to be ready,"_ Admiral Hackett countered.

"As Second Fleet is leaving the system to take the fight to the Turians, I want First Fleet standing guard on the far side of the Shanxi-Theta Relay with their weapons and barriers at the ready. If they see anything that isn't Human, they're to blow it up before it can so much as squawk," Nick added, the two now ignoring the other Admiral who was merely shaking his head in disbelief.

"_I can have First Fleet mobilized in a few seconds to take up position on the far side of the Shanxi-Theta Relay. Second Fleet will form our offensive line and attack the Turian colony._

_Third Fleet will take up the patrols near the Harvest end of the outer territories. Fourth Fleet will stand guard on the far side of the Harvest-Delta Relay in case the Turians try to attack that way. That leaves Fifth Fleet patrolling the Shanxi side of the outer territories, and the rest of our ships forming additional rapid response flotillas,"_ Hackett reported as he read the information off of his Omni-tool and gave the necessary orders.

"While I must still voice my opposition to this plan, I must say that your reasoning is sound," Drescher reluctantly added.

"I appreciate that, Admiral, but I really don't see any other option. Admiral Hackett is right, these Turians aren't going to take the failure of their invasion very well. We need to launch a counteroffensive to keep them from regrouping for another assault. We can't afford to take losses like we did on Shanxi again," Nick said.

***Sentry Omega (Hoc)***

**Virmire (Surface)**

*Main Base (Amphitheatre)*

"Foolish Humans, always rushing off into situation you don't even understand," Desolas gloated as the strange looking robots surrounded them, their eyes glowing an ominous shade of orange. "You really should be more careful."

"Yes, yes you should," Gabriella said as she stepped out of the shadows, Omni-tool glowing. "Kill the Turians!" she ordered as the lights on the Geth shifted a shade of green. As one they raised their weapons and opened fire on Desolas who merely stood there, shocked, while Nihlus tackled him to the side. "Don't just stand there!" Gabriella shouted. "Run!"

Derek was the first to move, immediately turning to bolt down the hallway behind Gabriella who was already a good second ahead of them. Thankfully the other two were quick to follow as well. "I must say, the day your sense of timing gives out will be the day we all die," Derek said as they ran through the halls.

"Shut up and keep moving!" Gabriella ordered over her shoulder without slowing down. "That hack will only last five minutes," she added as they rounded a corner and ran past another green eyed robot that was just standing there. "If we make it to the landing pad, we can steal a shuttle and just order the base bombed from orbit."

"This facility is equipped with an impressive array of anti-ship weaponry including a large array of GARDIAN lasers and a massive surface-to-orbit cannon. I can't exactly advise we bring our ships too close," Leng countered.

"We need to destroy that damned Monolith before they get it off world and we lose track of it," Gabriella argued.

"Gabriella's right. That thing's a threat to the galaxy as a whole," Ryan added. "Desolas is a fool to think it's an evolution machine. It's a damned de-evolution machine designed to let its creators know when a race has risen to a certain level of power."

"Seriously, how do you know this shit?" Derek asked.

"Just get to the shuttles!" Gabriella shouted as her Omni-tool beeped at her. "I just lost control of the Geth."

"The what?" Leng asked.

"Just keep moving!" Gabriella snapped at the question.

They ran until they came to a door. When it opened, they all skidded to a halt as a figure blocked their path. "Eva!" Derek exclaimed. "Come on, we gotta get out of here!" the Lieutenant continued as he started to move forward again. He made it all of five steps before Eva slammed a fist into his face and knocked him back. "What the hell?" Derek asked from his new place on the floor.

"Sovereign said not to let you go," Eva replied in a voice devoid of all emotion. Even her eyes were lacking that spark that they used to hold.

"What are you talking about?" Ryan asked. "You answer to me, not Sovereign!"

"Those who have not seen the light of the future Sovereign promises cannot help to fathom the purpose for which all organics exist. You have not seen the light. You cannot understand. Sovereign will show you," Eva replied in the same, empty tone.

"What. The. Fuck?" Derek asked as he got back up to his feet.

"We've got hostiles coming up on our six o'clock," Gabriella said as she pulled up her Omni-tool and threw a flaming tech mine at Eva's head.

The other woman ducked beneath the attack before retuning to her place guarding the door. "You cannot leave. Not until after Sovereign has shown you… shown you…" Eva stammered as she held her head as if it hurt. "You have to get out of here!" she whispered as if she were in pain. "Sovereign… the tower… RUN!" Eva shouted as she stumbled out of the door frame and tackled Ben who was approaching behind her.

The two fought for only a second before Eva managed to trip the cybernetically altered Human and pull him and herself over the edge of the upper balcony leading to the air pad. As the duo fell, the other Humans could only look on in shock and confusion. Nothing about this place made sense. Between Desolas' twisted experiments and the state of the two members of their team that had just taken a dive off of the cliff, everyone was about as confused as they could be.

"All the more reason to blow this place to hell," Gabriella said as she started running again. They were close now, so close.

*Main Base (Cloning Facility)*

The base was quite large as it spanned several square miles with even more to it safely tucked away underground. As such, Saren was unaware of the situation developing on the far side of the facility as there were no alarms in the base seeing as how the Geth could all communicate situations faster and more efficiently than a blaring sound a flashing light. This, as it turned out, would all change very soon.

Saren was busy making the modifications to the Krogan's DNA that Sovereign had instructed him to when he first noticed that the Geth were acting strange. The first sign of something being wrong was when the Geth's eyes turned green instead of orange. The second sign was when the aforementioned Geth then tried to blow his head off.

Saren was currently bunkered down behind a terminal throwing warps at the advancing machines and was, at the same time, trying to get in contact with Desolas and Nihlus, but it would seem that the Geth had activated their personal jamming fields in an attempt to cut him off. It was, therefore, just as strange to Saren when the Geth stopped attacking him, their eyes went back to being orange, and he found himself in the strange position of being asked if he was okay… by a Geth.

"_Arterius-SPECTRE, what is your status?"_ the Geth unit asked.

"What the hell was that?" Saren demanded.

"_This unit apologizes, Arterius-SPECTRE. Our runtimes were temporarily replaced by hostile software of an unknown origin. We have restored functionality. What is your status?"_

"I'm fine, no thanks to you," Saren replied as he stepped over the body of a fallen Geth Destroyer.

"_Do you require assistance?"_

"Get me a line to Desolas," Saren ordered.

"_Arterius-General is not available at this time. All Geth hardware platforms in his immediate area have been rendered non-functional by Kryik-SPECTRE due to hostile activity caused by temporary…"_

Saren growled in response, cutting off the Geth with a vicious snarl as he turned towards the rest of the facility only to see a Cruiser and another, smaller ship drop out of the clouds. "Desolas, Nihlus," Saren said into their radio, hoping one of them would hear him. "There's a ship headed right for you. Get out of there!"

The approaching Cruiser opened fire with a loud band and a hyper-accelerated round slammed into the protective barrier that surrounded that portion of the base. Saren was just about to ask how a Cruiser made it past their orbital defenses when a Geth Frigate made a crash landing into the side of a mountain not that far off from the base. Clearly someone had engaged them in orbit.

There was a shuddering in the ground as the great mass of Sovereign shifted its weight and fired a high velocity shell of its own. The smaller ship flanking the Cruiser intercepted the blast and was destroyed instantly. Then the Cruiser's power levels spiked really high before a beam of green energy bypassed the barrier around the base, cut through the armored walls, and sliced through a large grouping of power conduits. With the barrier now offline, the Cruiser fired one last round before retreating back to orbit.

The shockwave from the impact was great enough to bring Saren to the ground hard enough that he felt his knee shatter from the force of his own body weight. He didn't care, not now. He was alive and needed to worry about the others. The Turian soldiers they had brought from Palaven were expendable, the Geth platforms were easily rebuilt, but Desolas and Nihlus? They were irreplaceable.

"Somebody report!" Saren shouted into his comm line.

"Desolas is gone," Nihlus' voice said as the other Turian approached Saren from behind. "The damned fool tried to get the Monolith out of the amphitheatre."

"You left him?" Saren asked, his voice tight.

"As if I could get him to move," Nihlus replied. "He's been obsessed with that damned relic since he found it in Temple Palaven all those years ago. Sovereign told you that he couldn't completely remove the taint of the machine's influence from Desolas' mind. You should've expected this sooner or later."

Saren just knelt there, ignoring the pain in his broken knee, until it dawned on him that his old friend was right. "You always were a slippery one," Saren said as a Geth platform walked over with a medical kit.

"Sovereign saw fit to upgrade your biotics to some level when we joined his cause. He did similar things for me as well, as I'm sure you're aware," Nihlus replied dismissively. "We have a lot of work to do rebuilding here. One of us will need to report back to the Council that the Humans attacked a Turian research facility studying Prothean technology to get them to allocate more resources our way."

"Why?" Saren asked as his knee was treated. "We can just have the Geth bring us more resources from their mining operations and keep this place a secret."

"_Arterius-SPECTRE is only partly correct in that statement. While the Geth will be able to revisit restricted territory beyond the Perseus Veil, the Old-Geth Collective will not willingly hand over additional resources. They have chosen their own path, we have chosen ours. _

_The Geth of the Old Collective will no longer provide aid for the New-Geth Collective. Forcible actions may be necessary to secure resources from the Old-Geth Collective,"_ the Geth unit patching up Saren piped up.

"Are the New-Geth ready to take on the Old-Geth?" Saren asked. He wasn't concerned for the lives, why would he be? They're just machines. No, he was concerned about the success of the mission and nothing more.

"_With the upgrades to New-Geth technology provided by the Resplendent Sovereign, the New-Geth fleet, while smaller than the Old-Geth fleet, is significantly more powerful._

_Our forces should easily be able to secure a mining colony on the outskirts of Old-Geth space and hold it long enough to extract the needed materials. We will begin at your command."_

"Then get started, we can't waste too much time with this," Saren ordered.

"Either way, one of us should return to the Citadel. I have no doubts that the Council will want to send in agents to gather Intel on the Humans and you are their best operative," Nihlus persisted.

"And you are my most advanced student," Saren countered. "The Council will have to settle for you in my absence. If they ask, I am currently following up leads on Desolas' disappearance."

"I was hoping you'd say that," Nihlus replied with a smirk. "I've wanted to visit one of these Human colonies for a while now."

**Virmire (Orbit)**

*_SSV Prometheus_ (CIC)*

"Using the _Kupe_ as a decoy was not the type of call I'd expect from you," Derek said as what was left of their small fleet approached the Relay.

"Hey, I had it evacuated first," Gabriella argued.

"I'm not saying that you did anything wrong," Derek replied, holding his hands up in a gesture of non-hostility. "I'm just saying that it wasn't the type of call I'd expect you to make."

"There are a lot of things you don't know about me, Lieutenant. Just keep that in mind," Gabriella said as she walked off towards the elevator. She rode the large elevator down until she was on the third deck of the ship then walked out and made her way to the infirmary. "How is he?" Gabriella asked.

"Recovering," Doctor Miguel replied. "Whatever the Turians did to him, they didn't actually expose him to anything harmful."

"Then what's wrong with him?"

"He hasn't eaten or slept in days and his body is shutting down in an attempt to stay alive. Don't worry, a few hours of sleep and a constant IV will have him back up and fighting by the end of the day. Anderson will be fine, Gabriella, but what about you?" Miguel asked.

"When I have an answer to that question, you'll be the second to know," Gabriella replied before walking off again. Despite her outward calm, Gabriella was internally seething with rage. _'How could trained military personnel be so stupid as to charge an unknown race of clearly robotic hostiles that had an unknown strength? What the hell happened to common sense?!'_ Gabriella screamed furiously in the privacy of her mind. Then it hit her… _'What if they were affected the same way that Eva had been?'_

****Alliance Naval Codex: Tier 4 Access Required****

***Primary Codex Entry***

**Starships**

*Sabre-Class Fighters*

Alliance Sabre-Class Fighters are small, single-pilot combat craft. They are lightweight enough that they can be economically fitted with powerful element zero cores, making them capable of greater acceleration and sharper maneuvers than starships. Kinetic barriers changed starship battles from short, vicious bloodbaths to extended, indecisive slugging matches. Only the main gun of a Dreadnought could punch a mass accelerator slug through the barriers of an opposing Dreadnought. This changed with the Protheans' development of the fighter-launched mass Disruptor Torpedo, a short-ranged weapon that can penetrate kinetic barriers to destroy their projector assemblies. Starship GARDIAN defenses must be overwhelmed through swarm tactics. Fighter groups can take heavy casualties pressing their torpedo attacks home. Once fighter-launched torpedoes have crippled an enemy's barriers, the mass accelerators on Frigates and Cruisers can make short work of them.

****Alliance Naval Codex: Tier 4 Access Required****

***Primary Codex Entry***

**Starships**

*Triton-Class Interceptors*

Alliance Interceptors are a type of fighter optimized to attack other fighters, with little to no ability to damage starships. Interceptors are used to screen friendly units from incoming fighter attack. For this purpose, Alliance interceptors are equipped with a pair of rapid-fire GARDIAN pulse cannons operating on the 'blue-light-frequency.' The reason Alliance engineers decided on the blue-light-frequency for interceptors was due to the fact that, according to the Prothean Galactic Codex, Prothean fighters were equipped with 'red-light-frequency' GARDIAN arrays, thus Alliance interceptors would have the advantage of range over their enemies so long as the Protheans hadn't upgraded their forces in the past fifty-thousand years.

****Alliance Public Codex****

***Secondary Codex Entry***

**Technology**

*Universal Translators*

Human cultures, post formation of the Systems Alliance, remain linguistically divided. Some converse in Spanish, others in Mandarin, Arabic, Swahili, etc. Most individuals know only their mother tongue, and rely on machine translation. Modern portable computers allow anyone with a few hundred credits of equipment to enjoy seamless, real-time translation of foreign languages, courtesy of handheld PDAs, computers in clothing or jewelry, or sub-dermal implants. Without fast and accurate translation, transactions between survivors of the fall of Earth would be much harder as people of multiple nationalities were saved from the planet.

When the Mars Expedition broke through the Prothean firewalls on the bunker beneath the surface, they found pre-existing translation software keyed to the languages of the Prothean Empire. After modifying the technology, translation of all known Human languages, including several dead languages such as Latin, became possible.

*Amendment One: Written Text*

Optical implants or holographic 'glasses,' a holographic visor that covers the user's eyes, allow people to read all written languages in their databanks. This allows business transactions to take place rapidly and efficiently as saving the lives of people who were translators by trade seemed a waste of space aboard the Ark Ships. That is not say, however, that linguistics experts were not brought along to provide updates to the software as new languages were discovered or formed.

*Amendment Two: Alien Language: Turian Standard*

After the alien occupation of Shanxi, Alliance linguistics specialists and military code breakers working for ONI worked together to capture bits and pieces of the language the alien military were speaking. With a small number of spy probes, the men and women of the Office of Naval Intelligence managed to begin deciphering the alien language by first tapping into their communications then recording what conversations they could for later study. While the probes were destroyed relatively early on in the occupation, the captured information was studied to the point of obsession by the ONI officers in the days following the invasion until a breakthrough allowed them access to the recorded 'Turian' communications. This then allowed the linguistic experts to create a working software patch for the standard translators to allow the devices to provide real-time translations of the alien language.


	8. Counterstrike

**Author's Note**

**I know it's long, but it's important.**

I decided to fix two plot holes in the rest of the series. One of them, the Councilors' names, originated from a misunderstanding. The other, Serberus/Cerberus/Hydra, is just pissing me off at this point. That having been said, 'Velarn' is now the Salarian Councilor and 'Sparatus' is now the Turian Councilor, as they were in the game. This means that all mention of 'Velarn's Rebellion' will be changed to be 'Sparatus' Rebellion.' I know it's kind of a minor plot hole, but it's been bothering me ever since I realized I had it backwards.

As for Serberus/Cerberus/Hydra, if I put it simply, Cerberus belongs to the Mass Effect Universe and, as such, "Hydra" will now be "Cerberus." Therefore, "Taskforce Cerberus" in the rest of the series will be become "Taskforce Titan." Why I'm going with "Titan" as opposed to "Hydra" is because "Taskforce Titan" is centered around the UNSC's SPARTANs and "Titan" goes better with "SPARTANs" than "Hydra" does seeing as how a "Hydra" is a water serpent and "Titans" are feared warriors. Again, I know it's kind of minor in the long run since it's **just** a name, but it's been bothering me for a while now. Anyway, sorry about that.

Chapter 6

Counterstrike

***Serpent Nebula (Widow System)***

**Citadel (Surface)**

*Presidium Tower (Private Council Chambers)*

"Sorry I'm late, I ran into a group of voters this morning," Velarn, the Salarian Councilor, said as he entered the Council's private deliberation chamber.

"Yes, a rather unfortunate necessity," Tevos, the Asari Representative, replied with a sad smile.

"Despite the foul mood that such news brings, I must insist that we get on with the agenda of today's meeting. I have news of my own that will be drastically more towards the 'unhappier' side of things than we already are," Sparatus, the Turian Councilor, interrupted. He was not coldhearted, not by nature, but the death of another short-lived Salarian, even one that he considered to be a friend, was something of a daily issue that he had not the time for. After all, Velarn still had nearly ten years left on his life.

"Of course, Sparatus, you are correct. I myself am interested to hear of this new race you've encountered," Velarn said as he took his seat.

"What was that?" Tevos asked, her attention immediately focused on the Turian. "You've discovered a new race and I'm just now hearing about it?"

"Honestly I'm surprised Velarn knows about it. It only happened one galactic standard week ago," Sparatus replied in a casual tone.

"From what we understand, a patrol fleet encountered a Relay that was broadcasting the signal most often associated with a forced awakening. In other words, someone was attempting to activate it from the far side," Velarn said, ignoring the Turian's suspicious look. "The Dalatrass is never blind to the events of this galaxy," he added when Sparatus failed to pick up the recounting of his tale.

"Clearly the Salarian STG is far more adept than I thought to give them credit for," Sparatus muttered sarcastically.

"Can we focus here? How did first contact go?" Tevos asked.

"Less than desirably," Sparatus replied in an annoyed tone. "The patrol fleet, headed by some upstart Captain whom the Hierarchy decided it would be best to keep out on the fringes of our territory and away from the everyday going-ons, decided to open fire without even attempting communications first. Five Frigates and a Cruiser, a small detachment from the main bulk of the patrol fleet which was three times that size, were sent through the Relay. Why the Captain decided to jump the Relay himself when Citadel law clearly states not to activate the damned things is beyond me, but he did it anyway."

"Goddess, what the hell was he thinking?" Tevos exclaimed.

"For the glory of the Hierarchy, if stereotypical war cries are to be applied to the situation," Velarn replied.

"Undoubtedly, but that's not even the worst part. The Captain followed one of the ships that escaped his initial assault and tracked it back to a colony through yet another Relay that he never should've crossed without contacting us first, and engaged the local garrison in orbit," Sparatus continued.

"He attacked an alien race on one of their own worlds?!" Tevos nearly shouted.

"Again, that's not even the worst part," Sparatus replied.

"What could possibly be worse than that?"

"His detachment was destroyed by the defending forces. The unknowns were outnumbered. They had three ships, a single Cruiser and two Frigates, and they destroyed all five ships of the patrol detachment without even loosing their barriers. One of the other Frigates in the patrol fleet not involved in the attack monitored the situation then immediately reported back to the rest of the fleet. The ranking officer of the fleet and newly field-promoted CO contacted Turian High Command, as he was supposed to, but General Desolas decided to order a full scale offensive. He even went as far as to deploy his 'personal' Dreadnought, the _Amundsen_, to the world. Six galactic standard days later, the fleet returned to Turian Space, the General absent, the Dreadnought severely damaged, and a large portion of the fleet destroyed."

"The Turians were bested in open combat?" Velarn asked in surprise. The Salarians' Intel on the situation had ended when the assault fleet jumped through the first Relay.

"You could call it open, but you couldn't call it fair. I've already handed the sensors recordings from the battle to SPECTRE agent Jondum Bau to be delivered to Sur'Kesh in person for further study," Sparatus replied.

"What made the combat unfair? Even outnumbered, I doubt a Turian fleet could be so easily made to flee after holding a planet for several days," Tevos asked.

"That's the main reason we're asking the Salarians for help from the beginning as opposed to trying to figure this out for ourselves first. You'll notice in this video that the missile that strikes the Dreadnought comes out of nowhere," Sparatus said as he brought up a video recording from the battle. The small image on his Omni-tool was instantly projected on a larger screen for easier viewing for them all.

In the recording, the death of a Frigate instantly consumed the screen in a painfully bright flash of light. "Sorry," Sparatus said as he rewound the video to the beginning. To see the fireball collapse back into a ship was strangely interesting, but the rest of the recording played in reverse as Sparatus rewound to the beginning was… troubling, to say the least. "There we go."

As Sparatus pressed play again, the view showed the _Amundsen_ in all its glory from an external view which implied that the video was shot from another ship's cameras. The Dreadnought drifted through space, comfortably sitting in orbit, an indomitable force of destructive power being propelled forward only by the force of gravity that pulled it in a circular rotation with the rest of the planet below it. Then there was a flash of light and the Dreadnought's barrier flared to life as a round impacted the ship with enough force to cause the entire barrier grid to glow and ripple as the immense forces were diverted around the ship to keep the bullet form punching through to the armor.

"That round looked like it would be on par with the _Destiny Ascension_'s main cannon," Tevos said worriedly. "I assume this means they countered your Dreadnought with one of their own?"

"It's getting there, just give it time," Sparatus replied as he pressed play again after having paused it to answer Tevos' question.

The view shifted as the ship, which turned out to be a probe left by the Hierarchy as evidenced by the fact that it didn't start shooting with the rest of the fleet, turned its sensors and cameras to face the aggressors. Dropping out of FTL in orbit of the planet's moon, a large fleet of ships gathered at the edge of the Turians' own firing range before a message started playing over the speakers. What was said was impossible to determine, but it was defiantly said by someone who believed they had the right to be there.

"Have we managed to decipher…" Tevos began before the opposing Dreadnought fired again. This time, when the round sailed through space, it completely bypassed the barrier and armor of the targeted Cruiser with lethal effect. So great was the blow that the Frigate behind the Cruiser was also destroyed by the one round that then spun off into the planet's atmosphere, its kinetic force completely spent and the round no longer lethal, even to the unprotected planet below. "By the Goddess!" Tevos exclaimed as the two ships were consumed in explosions. That was one round and two kills in favor of the unknowns.

Again Sparatus paused the playback as he turned to face his two companions. "That second round was defiantly stronger than the first, though why they fired it second is beyond me."

"They could've destroyed the _Amundsen_ with that round as their opening attack but chose instead to send a message. The first round was to get your attention, the second was to strike fear into the hearts and minds of the officers of the fleet," Velarn reasoned. "Psychological warfare tactics. Impressive primary arment. Powerful ships. Large fleet… the Turians did not stumble across a race just stepping out into the stars. You found a race that knows how to wage war. They most likely have a very violent past. I'm willing to bet their homeworld is either riddled with dangerous animals, or that they fought each other until one faction won out over the others and dominated the rest. Either that or they fought a hostile alien race before meeting the Turians and learned the ways of war through the desperate act of survival. Either way, this race will most likely not take the losses you imposed upon them lightly."

"Let's just get through this one recording at a time," Sparatus practically growled, though his anger was clearly not directed at the Salarian.

"Why? What happened?" Tevos asked.

"Just watch," Sparatus replied with a snarl.

The recording progressed from there as the Frigates of the opposing fleet charged in at full speed, their Cruisers swooping in from the side in a massive sweeping maneuver while the Dreadnought fired its weapon again, the _Amundsen_ its target. The _Amundsen_, to her Captain's credit, returned fire and so began the slugging match between the two forces, but it was just a distraction. At the edge of the probe's sensors' range, another ship dropped out of FTL, this one also the size of a Dreadnought. Tevos believed that it was the precursor to a larger wave of reinforcements, but the ship stayed at the extreme ranges of the engagement zone and started launching a massive wave of fighters.

Just as the hostile Frigates charged into the Turian line supported by their Cruisers, the fighters launched from the other Dreadnought-sized vessel made an FTL jump to the far side of the planet before thundering into the atmosphere. As the fighters came around the planet, the gravity well accelerating them to even greater speeds, the fighters launched a wave a missiles that struck the Turian fleet from beneath where there were no GARDIAN arrays to stop the missiles.

Several ships were fortunate enough to be destroyed outright. Others were left to be killed slowly by secondary explosions or being disabled in the middle of a battlefield as the fighters rocketed past the Turian fleet before circling around for another run. As they did, the fighters followed the rest of their fleet and pushed the Turians out of orbit in one fell swoop that left the Turian fleet missing one-third of its Frigates. And just like that, the Turians had lost the advantage of orbital superiority as well as the bulk of their GARDIAN net.

"Their knowledge of space combat is impressive. Such an imaginative use of a vessel of such size to carry fighters to bolster their odds and assure that the flanking maneuver was successful. Most impressive indeed," Velarn mused as the Turians were forced out of orbit by the sheer volume of firepower impacting their port-side flank.

The recording played on as the Dreadnoughts fired their main weapons at one another, but the Dreadnought attacking the _Amundsen_ was no longer engaging its counterpart. The _Amundsen_'s shots were going unanswered as, instead of returning fire, the other Dreadnought was charging forward on an arched vector, its intention clear. The Dreadnought was about to force its way into the heart of the Turian formation, and it was going to do so through the inelegant application of brute force.

Tevos breathed in a sharp breath as she expected the large ship to collide with any number of the smaller vessels, but the pilot expertly maneuvered the massive ship into the front of the aggressors' formation. Then, and only then, did the weapons fire again, but it wasn't the main cannon like it had been before. From across the entire hull of the Dreadnought, hatches opened to reveal cannons of varying sizes. Velarn recognized their design immediately.

"Why would a Dreadnought have such an extensive GARDIAN array?" Velarn asked.

His question, however, went ignored by both Sparatus, who was absolutely fuming at this point, and Tevos, who was too enthralled with the video to mind his question. Nevertheless, it was answered almost immediately after being asked when the Dreadnought opened fire with not one, but three different GARDIAN arrays.

Green beams of light lanced out and cut into Turian Cruisers while blue beams sliced into the hulls of Frigates and red beams swept across space leaving behind nothing but dead fighters and destroyed missiles in the wake of their passing. Then the main kinetic cannon fired again and a Turian Frigate unfortunate enough to be between the enemy Dreadnought and the _Amundsen_ simply vanished in a fireball as the round impacted the _Amundsen_ and caused its barrier to nearly collapse. Clearly this was the stronger of the two cannons, though Tevos was sure that the _Amundsen_ was lucky to be alive right now.

"Pay attention to the ship at the edge of the system," Sparatus instructed, his voice tight with rage.

The ship in question was, at this moment, approaching the battlefield at casual sub-light speeds, but what really caught their attention was the fact that it was… "Are they firing missiles?" Tevos asked. "At that range, it would be…" Tevos trailed off as the missiles streaked forward in a blur of motion before impacting the starboard flank of the Turian fleet that wasn't already being hammered by the alien forces.

"FTL capable missiles," Velarn mused in shock and astonishment.

The battle was quickly wrapped up after that as the aliens forced the Turian fleet into a hasty retreat as the hostile fleet pushed deeper into the Turian lines and the missiles from the other Dreadnought-sized vessel left the Turians pined between a rock and hard place. The Turians couldn't be blamed for fleeing, not really. They were facing an unknown force with clearly unknown capabilities. They had already suffered heavy losses and now the enemy was pounding them with ranged artillery in the form of Disruptor Torpedoes that couldn't even be shot down by GARDIAN arrays. Then there was that Dreadnought that was cutting through the entire fleet with a GARDIAN array that was clearly not meant to be used as a means of defense and a main gun that could kill multiple ships in a single shot.

"I understand the advantage of GARDIAN arrays in the form of defenses as they are able to target and destroy missiles and fighters instantly, but directed energy weapons are such a large power drain that using them as a form of offense is impractical," Tevos said.

"Indeed, which implies that the power core on that Dreadnought is capable of producing an unbelievably immense quantity of energy," Velarn agreed.

"What about that message?" Tevos asked, her mind still caught up in the fact that the aliens didn't outright destroy the _Amundsen_ when they had the chance.

"Still running linguistics decryption program," Velarn replied as he looked down at him Omni-tool.

"You mentioned another recording?" Tevos asked as she turned to face Sparatus directly.

"Velarn was right about one thing," Sparatus replied darkly. "They didn't take the attack on their world lightly. However, I'm really interested in this 'linguistics decryption program' you mentioned."

"Salarian First Contact scenarios always took into account that a new species would not speak our languages. STG developed a program that could, theoretically, decipher any language if we had an adequate sample to analyze. Small speech. Obviously meant to intimidate. Not enough data. Need more vocal recordings," Velarn explained before taking a deep breath. "Don't suppose you have any?" he asked hopefully.

"Just bits and pieces of conversations that our soldiers recorded while occupying the colony. The problem there is that most of our troops were left on the planet when the fleet was forced out of orbit. We have a limited amount of recordings seeing as how the aliens destroyed the spy probe in the middle of its final report," Sparatus replied as he pulled up his own Omni-tool and sent Velarn a copy of the data he had.

"Should be enough. Will only take a moment longer," Velarn said as the program went to work. "Problematic," Velarn muttered to himself.

"What?" Tevos asked.

"Translation software not fully developed. Still has bugs to be worked out. Recording makes no sense," Velarn replied as he played the translated message.

The voice that came out of Velarn's Omni-tool was undoubtedly not the actual voice of the speaker as the translation carried none of the threatening edge that the original did and sounded largely synthetic in nature. _"Irrelevant my title and being is. About to die you all are. Before to decompose in the eternal flames of damnation I send you to, only one thing clear do I wish to make. Had sexual intercourse with the wrong species, you have! Phoenix to be hailed it is!"_

"Please tell me something was just lost in translation!" Tevos exclaimed as she turned a glare towards Sparatus. "Your soldiers sexually assaulted an unknown species!?"

"Impossible!" Sparatus replied with an air of utter confusion "Turian soldiers are just that; soldiers. They're not rapists!"

"Hold on," Velarn interrupted them. "I made a few modifications to the program. Let's try that again."

"_My title and my being are irrelevant. About to die you all are. Before my person sends your souls to decompose in the eternal flames of damnation, I wish only to make one thing clear."_ Here the recording stopped as a loading screen indicated that the message was being buffered and filtered under the new protocols. Finally it played again. _"You had sexual intercourse with the wrong species! Phoenix to be hailed it is!"_

"Still doesn't sound right," Velarn mused as he fiddled with his Omni-tool some more. "Word order is strange. Language is obviously Cyrillic-based. Each symbol represents a sound. Could adjust to read word order based off of vocal stresses…"

"_My name and who I am are irrelevant. You are all about to die. Before my person sends your souls to decompose in the eternal flames of damnation, I wish only to make one thing clear. You had sexual intercourse with the wrong species! Phoenix to be hailed it is!"_

"No, no, no. Still not right," Velarn muttered as he made another adjustment.

"_My name and who I am are irrelevant. You are all about to die. Before I personally send your souls to decompose in the eternal flames of hell, I wish only to make one thing clear. You had sexual intercourse with the wrong species! Hailed the phoenix should be!"_

Another adjustment was made before Velarn played the recording again.

"_My name and who I am are irrelevant. You are all about to die. Before I personally send your souls to rot in the eternal flames of hell, I wish only to make one thing clear. You had sexual intercourse with the wrong species! Hail the phoenix you should!"_

"That's not it either."

"_My name and who I am are irrelevant. You are all about to die. Before I personally send your souls to rot in the eternal flames of hell, I wish only to make one thing clear. You had sexually assaulted with the wrong species! Hail the phoenix!"_

"Still not right," Velarn muttered before the recording finally played and, when it did, it finally sounded like a real person's voice.

"_My name and who I am are irrelevant. You are all about to die. Before I personally send your souls to rot in the eternal flames of hell, I wish only to make one thing clear. You fucked with the wrong species! Hail the phoenix!"_

"Usage of the word 'fuck' is strange in this context. Usually only used by pirates and slavers. Batarian in origin. Typically used to denote a sexual encounter of an unpleasant nature. Implications here would suggest that this species sees sex as a bad thing. Can't be right. Must be something wrong. Will need to have a more experienced technician than myself look over the translation software. Regardless, reference to sexual encounter of any kind is troubling. Raises questions. Are we sure there was no sexual assault?" Velarn asked as he forwarded the recording and the translation software to his personal science team.

Sparatus snarled in reply. "Turian soldiers are not rapists!" he exclaimed angrily.

"Perhaps the usage of the word means something else entirely to their people. It's possible that it's a challenge of some sort. Perhaps they're saying that they'll 'fuck' us in return for what happened," Tevos interjected.

"They already have," Sparatus practically growled. "Roughly a galactic standard day ago, we lost contact with the Volus colony on Galen. A few hours later we received a message that was broadcasted across a secure Turian military channel directly of Palaven High Command. Whoever these people are, they're rather adept at hacking through our firewalls. When they sent that first message, they managed to broadcast it through the internal comms of our ships, the loud speakers on our tanks, and the private comm channels in our battle-nets so that **everyone** heard it. The second message they sent was far more directed, but that only made what they were trying to say all the more clear."

Again Sparatus brought up his Omni-tool and began playing a recording. This one was captured by another Turian spy probe, but it was one that was orbiting one of their own boarder-territory worlds. There was no face to match up with the voice that began speaking, though that didn't take away from the severity that the audio-only message impressed upon the listeners that was clearly being broadcast to Turian High Command on Palaven as well as the planet below that was to be assaulted.

"_You came to our world,"_ the same voice from the first message began, _"but not until after you attacked and destroyed three civilian freighters. They had no weapons. Their barriers were only as strong as you'd expect a civilian ship's barriers to be. They were merely seeking to find a new system to explore, a new planet to mine. Yes they went against our laws and exited our territory, but it is __**our**__ place to take care of __**our**__ criminals. The Turians have no business interfering in Alliance affairs. We do not need your help taking our criminals prisoner, nor do we need your help deciding the appropriate fate of the guilty._

"_What am I even saying?"_ the voice asked no one in particular. _"You didn't even __**attempt**__ to take them prisoner. Your military opened fire on civilian ships without warning. Civilians! Unarmed and posing no threat to you and you just up and killed them without anything in the way of civility, mannerism, or due process. You outright __**murdered**__ three-hundred-fifty-eight civilians that were peacefully exploring one system out from Alliance Territory, but you didn't even stop there!_

"_You followed them back to our world, but you didn't even stop there either. You attacked the fleet defending our world, but, again, that wasn't enough for you to stop there. When you were defeated in orbit you should've taken it as the sign that it was and left us in peace, but no, you didn't even stop there. You brought in a full-scale assault force. You moved a fleet into orbit of our world, but you didn't even stop there! After destroying the rightful defenders of Shanxi, you launched an unjustified ground invasion, but you didn't even stop there!_

"_When __**our**__ soldier resisted the illegal occupation of __**our**__ world your fleets started dropping pieces of our own ships onto the cities below! You took the wreckage of the _SSV Saint Luis_ and dropped it into the business center of the capital city. Your military wiped out entire city blocks to kill single fire teams. You murdered innocent civilians in mass in an attempt to eradicate the rightful defense of our world!"_

Here the voice paused as the person to whom it belonged took a deep breath to calm itself. _"Thusly, you have set the standards of war. You have slaughtered innocent civilians and murdered the rightful defenders of our world with a lack of disregard that I find to be rather revolting. Nevertheless, it is you who have set the standards of war. This is our response to your destruction of the civilian freighters that attempted to open Relay 314 in the name of peaceful exploration."_

The screen shifted from the view it had been showing, the probe was simply 'looking' at the system as a whole as it scanned for pirate raids or any other nasty things that tried to attack the colony. Now, in place of the peaceful colony world, a massive ship dropped out of FTL in orbit of the moon, its bow, and, consequently, its main gun were lined up with the massive, unarmed, lightly shielded space station that sat in orbit of the colony. The space station had been built to expand on the amount of goods the spaceport on the surface could handle. It was civilian in design and if there were any military personnel on the station it was because they were shopping while off duty.

There was a flash of light and a boom as the Dreadnought, far larger than the one that had defended 'Shanxi,' fired a single round at the station. The armor-piercing, anti-shipping round collapsed the minor kinetic barrier that covered the station, punched through the thin layer of armor, and passed through several layers of trading rooms before finally breaching the station's reactor core in one blow. The round even had enough momentum after leaving the base to destroy a large satellite that was in orbit behind it. The station rumbled for a small fraction of a second before the entire thing was consumed in a single explosion that left only the tiniest amount of debris behind. By the time the explosion had fully consumed the station, there wasn't even enough left to build a fighter out of the remains.

"By the Goddess!" Tevos exclaimed, a look of horror on her face. Velarn was similarly shocked into silence by the mere act of what had just happened. Sparatus, having already seen this once before, merely glared at the screen.

"_That was our response to your destruction of the civilian freighters that attempted to open Relay 314, but your sins do not end there. You destroyed our Cruiser, the _SSV Saint Luis_, with a crew of seventy-five. You destroyed our Frigates, the _SSV Pyongyang_ and the _SSV Copenhagen_; both had a crew of thirty. This is our response to your unjust destruction of the rightful defenders of Shanxi."_

Two more ships dropped out of FTL beside the first, both of them Dreadnoughts that looked very similar to the one they had seen over 'Shanxi.' "Three Dreadnoughts?" Velarn more said than asked. "Problematic."

And indeed it was. The Turian fleet stationed in orbit of the planet circled around from the far side and charged at the trio of Dreadnoughts with a vengeance. It was five Cruisers and twenty-five Frigates versus three Dreadnoughts. It should've been an easy battle, and indeed it was… for the unnamed aggressors.

Missiles swarms from the Frigates were launched in bulk, but the Dreadnoughts of the class they had seen before opened up with their GARDIAN arrays. Green beams of light cut into the hulls of the Frigates while blue beams shot down the missiles. The Turian fleet didn't even have the chance to enter range of the red GARDIAN beams before the other Dreadnought opened fire. It did not, however, do so from range.

The largest of the three Dreadnoughts charged forward, its four engines accelerating its mass to speeds Tevos didn't think possible. Nevertheless, when the Dreadnought closed distance with the Turian Cruisers, the Captains did the only logical thing they could. They swarmed the larger ship to keep from being at its bow. They did everything they could to avoid the massive guns on the large warship, but, in doing so, they played right in the trap that had been set for them.

As the Cruisers flew over the largest ship in the system, one that Tevos was sure could give the _Ascension_ a run for its money, beams of… something other than light lanced out from the Dreadnought and cut through the Cruisers in half with a single blow. Four of these beams lanced out, and four Cruisers were cut in half as if their armor had meant nothing at all. The last Cruiser turned to run, the Frigates of its own fleet long since destroyed by the other two Dreadnoughts' powerful and extensive GARDIAN arrays, but found that doing so led it into another trap as the rest of the 'Alliance' fleet dropped out of FTL over the planet.

"_That was our response to your unjust destruction of the rightful defenders of Shanxi, but your sins do not end there either. You launched a ground invasion against our sovereign territory, but I care not for the act of taking this world for our own when it would better serve as an example than it would a trophy. You dropped the debris from our own ships onto our own cities to kill even a single soldier at the cost of hundreds of civilian lives. This is our response to the unjust slaughter of the thousands of innocent people that you killed on Shanxi, though I do believe that there's not really enough left of your ships for this… re-enactment to be accurate. Nevertheless, you have set the standards of war and if we cannot find enough debris from your ships to exact our revenge, we will substitute ship wreckage for planetary assault rounds."_

The ships in the 'Alliance' fleet surrounded the small colony world of Galen, a colony of mostly Volus with a roughly thirty-percent Turian population. The weapons of the Alliance fleet were armed, ready, and quickly put to work as they began firing on the surface. Dozens of rounds left the barrels of the fleet's guns and slammed into the surface of Galen. Dust clouds were thrown high into the atmosphere. Entire city blocks vanished under the force of the shock waves. All the Councilors could do was sit there and watch the death of a world.

Tevos was speechless at the mere sight of the senseless slaughter.

Sparatus was furious at the mass murder of the people under his command and protection.

Velarn was intrigued by the weapons these aliens used, though the mask he wore was one of shock.

"_You have invaded our territory, killed our soldiers, murdered our civilians, destroyed our ships, and angered our people. And to think,"_ the voice said, its tone one of condescending sarcasm, _"all of this could've been avoided if you and your idiotic selves didn't up and decide that a race that has never even heard of your damned 'Citadel' should have to follow the rules that its 'Council' makes. This is not, however, a declaration of war. This is an official declaration of independence, a demand to be left alone. This world will stand as an example of what you can expect if but a single Turian vessel enters Alliance Territory again…"_

The playback paused as the colony of Galen burned in the background. Sparatus stood and turned to his fellow Councilors. "There's more to the recording than that, but it's not any prettier than the rest of it. It's just an aftermath report and still frame photos of the surface and a few clips of civilians running for their lives."

"This race's aptitude with the application of physiological warfare is indeed most impressive. The demoralizing factor of leaving the most powerful ship in orbit of the original colony attacked intact while slaughtering the lesser vessels effectively left the Commanding Officer running for fear of his own life. The destruction of the space station over Galen and the usage of three ships to destroy the entire defense force followed by the very public and indiscriminate bombarding of the planet then leaves Palaven High Command both shocked, afraid, and angry. The declaration of independence followed by an undeniable challenge leaves our forces conflicted," Velarn said as he rubbed his chin.

"Now the question is, do we allow this new species to hold an unchallenged victory such as the destruction of a Turian-protected colony thus allowing this race to calm down before second contact is attempted? Or do we launch a full-scale counterassault to save face with the public? The Turians have been defeated by an unknown force, a colony has been rendered uninhabitable, Turian ships have been destroyed, and soldiers left behind on this 'Shanxi' are now in the hands of the enemy. Too many variables. Too many options. Have to ask, what are you thinking?" Velarn asked.

Sparatus turned to face the Salarian directly, his face a mask of emotional turmoil. "The Turian in me is screaming for revenge, but the logical side of me says that, if they can do this to a moderately defended world without any hint of remorse… I dread to find out what they would do to a lesser defended world if provoked further. If we can't take them in out in the first act of total war, they might destroy every garden world they find regardless of who it belongs to. I… find myself conflicted on this matter. I wish to hear what Tevos has to say."

"This is… not the type of thing I expected to deal with. If you had told me when I woke up this morning that I would have to decided on a matter of galactic importance as great as the possibility of total war, I would've been very skeptical. However, this is indeed a troubling situation. On hand we have the full destruction of a Turian colony. On the other we have the threat of total war. We must consider the cause of both of these. It is, in my opinion, clearly the fault of the Turians that we are in this situation to begin with," Tevos replied.

"If your Captain had not engaged civilian forces and chased them back to their colony, then logic dictates that this… 'Alliance' wouldn't have attacked Galen. However, the destruction of the colony troubles me. I understand that the speaker claimed that everything they did was in retaliation for an equally appalling Turian action. It then stands to reason that their claims that the Turian Hierarchy violated the Citadel Conventions and commenced with the unsanctioned and illegal act of orbital bombardment against a civilian population are true. I must ask, did or did not the Hierarchy authorize the bombardment of the planet?" Tevos asked.

"I know for a fact that Palaven High Command would never authorize such a blatant lack of disregard for innocent lives. We are soldiers, not murders. However, I also know that General Arterius has never been seen as a stable element. More so in recent years as we have noticed that the General is absent from his duties increasingly more often. If the General was killed on Shanxi, then so be it. If not, then he must be found and put on trial for war crimes. This type of retaliation is exactly why we banned the usage of orbital bombardment, especially on nonmilitary targets. For Desolas to go this far… I fear that the repercussions of his arrogance will be felt by us all for a long time to come," Sparatus replied.

"So the Hierarchy did not authorize the use of such force?" Tevos clarified.

"Desolas, despite his young age, had a lot of things working for him during his rise up the military chain of command. He's the brother to Saren Arterius, our best SPECTRE, and the student of Nihlus Kryik who was a student of Saren. I know that doesn't sound all that impressive, but Desolas, aside from being a good fighter, was a brilliant tactician. With his associates and the power they held, he was able to climb quickly. Some, such as myself, believed it was too fast, but were powerless to stop it. Desolas then became increasingly estranged as he was rarely ever around yet managed to avoid a court marshal. It's the belief of those who opposed Desolas' rise that he was bribing those who supported him. Nevertheless, the fact that, after each disappearance, Desolas returned with a prize worthy of looking the other way didn't help those of us opposed to his rise," Sparatus explained.

"Indeed," Velarn added. "The Dalatrass was also worried about Desolas' actions. She assigned a Salarian STG team to follow him. We haven't heard from them in nearly a galactic standard year. Needless to say the Dalatrass swept the entire operation under the rug to keep it from impairing Union relations with the Hierarchy."

"Understandably, though I believe the bulk of the Hierarchy's higher ranked officials would've supported your decision. After all, we sent a SPECTRE to do the same and never heard back from her either. However, this does not answer the question of what we're supposed to do now," Sparatus pointed out.

"We must decide how to handle this, and we must do so soon," Tevos said. "If this new species is so adept at hacking heavily encrypted Turian military channels, then it's only a matter of time before they decide to broadcast that message to the galaxy at large. We have no way of stopping them seeing as how Turian military channels are used to issue galaxy-wide emergency situational updates. We need to find a way to keep this from escalating, though I'm unsure of how to do that.

"If we try to send a ship to their known system, we're bound to run into a fleet protecting the Relay. If we attempt to open negotiations after they clearly said that they want to be left alone, it could blow up in our faces. Our options are limited by the unknown reaction this species will have to any move we make. The unknown variables are simply too great. We need more Intel, but any attempt to gather Intel on a species securely hidden behind the only known way to access their territory would almost certainly result in the discovery of any infiltration team and that could lead to total war on a galactic scale. We don't know how large this race's fleets are, but we do know that their ships are powerful beyond reason."

"Indeed," Velarn mused. "Their technology is advanced, that much is clear. Where normally a Turian fleet would be enough to quell such an uprising, these people have made it clear that they can, with an equal number of ships, go toe-to-toe with the Turians and not only hold their own, but prevail. Then there is the matter of this larger Dreadnought class. That one ship alone could successfully take on even the _Destiny Ascension_ and could pose quite the threat to what is universally known to be the most powerful ship in Citadel Space. Problematic."

"I believe we are overlooking several key factors as we stumble around in the dark," Tevos said. "We must look again at the recordings presented to us. You said that there was more to the last one?"

"Yes," Sparatus replied as he pressed play.

As the Turian had informed them earlier, the recording consisted of an aftermath showing of what had befallen Galen. Then that voice began to speak again.

"_Nothing is more vital to me than the continued existence and survival of my species. I care not for revenge. This world did not fall as our way of challenging your competence, but, rather, was to be an example of what we are willing to do. Notice that everything we did was in response to your own actions. We are not the aggressors here, but neither will we standby and watch as our people are senselessly murdered in mass. Humanity did not fall with Earth._

"_We rose from the ashes of our own stupidity, set aside our differences, and forged for ourselves a future worth having. No foreign species, no greedy individual, no self-proclaimed 'superior' group shall stand before the phoenix as a symbol of oppression and not feel the heat of our passion, the power of our drive. We are humanity, and we bow to no one. Hail the phoenix."_

"There," Tevos said as the recording came to a close. "It has said that before."

"Yes, though the last time it was with much more gusto. Here it serves more as a simple statement than it does a challenge," Velarn added.

"You're implying that there's some underlying significance?" Sparatus asked, totally at a loss as to what the others meant.

"In the first speech, this exact line was said with a tone of defiance, a clear challenge directed towards the forces over and on Shanxi. Here it's more along the lines of recognizing a figure of great importance. I believe this 'phoenix' might be the name of their leader," Tevos replied.

"What is a 'phoenix' anyway?" Sparatus asked in a half-interested tone.

"Most likely either a name or a title. Possibly the equivalent to a Turian Primarch, an Asari Matriarch, or a Salarian Dalatrass. It is possible that this 'phoenix' is the one we must appease to bring about a peaceful solution to this situation," Velarn explained.

"Assuming that this is true, we now know the one we're looking for even if we don't know what they look like or what their name is. We must find this 'phoenix' and open negotiations with it," Tevos said.

"Indeed, though we must first start with the damage control that will be necessary to keep the public form panicking. I assume the Hierarchy has already sent a fleet to Galen to secure the system?" Velarn asked.

"Yes, and we sent an appropriate force considering the size of the hostile fleet in the recording. A company of five Dreadnoughts backed by a large number of Cruisers, Frigates, and a heavy fighter presence to counter the numbers we know this enemy can field," Sparatus replied.

"Excellent. When can we expect their first report?" Tevos asked.

"In a matter of hours. They should be arriving in orbit of Galen by nightfall on the colony."

"Then we must wait patiently for their first report, though we must not be idle in our waiting. We must prepare a public statement and find a way to keep the public from panicking. A situation like this hasn't arisen since the Krogan Rebellions and I'd like to keep additional bloodshed to a minimal," Velarn said.

"Agreed," the other two Councilors responded in unison.

***Xeta Nebula (Sheeran System)***

**Galen (En Route)**

*_Ekko_ (CIC) [five galactic standard hours later]*

"Put me on fleet-wide," General Corinthus ordered as they neared the system. When one of his officers nodded that he was on, the General addressed his fleet as a whole. "Ladies and gentlemen, we are traveling together today to the scene of a great travesty the likes of which hasn't been seen since the Krogan Rebellions. There is a strong possibility that the aliens responsible for the destruction of the colony on Galen are waiting to ambush us. As this is a very possible outcome, I want everyone ready and on alert. I understand that you may have mixed feelings about our mission here, but our primary goal is to secure the system, not to chase down the ones responsible. That having been said, stay in your formations, cover each other's backs, and be ready for anything."

The fleet's battle-net went quiet after that as everyone in the fleet bowed their heads in respect for the fallen. Then the ships started to decelerate. The Turian fleet dropped out of FTL near the edge of the system, but close enough that they were only a few seconds of sub-light travel out from their destination. As they approached, what they saw made several of the Captains question the accuracy of the sensors aboard their ships.

"What am I looking at?" Corinthus asked in a tone of confusion.

"Galen, sir," his navigator replied in a tone of awe.

"But… I thought the colony was destroyed?" the navigational officer added.

"Sir, we're being hailed," the comms officer reported.

"Put it through," Corinthus ordered.

As the line crackled to life, a voice began speaking though no visual representation of the voice accompanied the voice itself. _"By now I'm sure that you've noticed that your world is fully intact. On that note, I'm… 'requesting' that you shut off your engines and hold position at a distance no less than three orbital distances out. Any violation of this request will be met with hostile action. We have no more desire for further bloodshed than you do, but it seems that a show of force was the only way to get your attention. For that purposes, I'll give you a reason to abide by a reasonable request."_

"Sir, they're…" the tactical officer began before a powerful round fired from the main gun of the largest Dreadnought in orbit of Galen. The round impacted the moon with enough force to shove it backwards in its orbit by several feet. A massive cloud of dust flew into space as well and a creator was formed on the surface as a large cracked damn near split the moon into thirds. "Spirits!" the tactical officer exclaimed. "They've got guns like aimed at the planet!"

"Helm, bring us to a full stop. Comms, give me fleet wide," Corinthus ordered. Shortly thereafter, the General added, "All ships are to cut engines and hold position!"

The Turian fleet came grinding to a halt just outside of the range specified by the faceless voice. When they did, the voice spoke again. _"Your cooperation in this matter is greatly appreciated. Now, I have a message for you,"_ the voice of what had to be a grizzled old soldier said.

Finally a visual image accompanied the voice, but it was the face and voice of an entirely different being. _"Admiral Steven Hackett, Commanding Officer of Systems Alliance High Command. To whom am I speaking?"_

The face of the alien was that of what Corinthus almost expected to be a male Asari, though he knew such a thing didn't exist. The man was old, grizzled, hardened, and had a demanding aura and tone that made him very intimidating, even to a veteran like Corinthus. "I'm General Corinthus, Palaven High Command, Commanding Officer of the _Ekko_, and appointed CO of this fleet."

Corinthus was about to say more, to challenge the man on the screen before him, but the alien cut him off preemptively. _"The visual recording broadcasted to Palaven High Command was a fabrication put together by a group of our more prevalent fiction writers. You'll notice that the space station is fully intact, the surface hasn't been bombarded, and the defending fleet was forced to land on the planet unharmed with the exception of one Cruiser who refused to stand-down in the face of a superior force. The total loss of life during the Alliance occupation of this world has only reached seventy-nine by our count. All of the losses taken were by your military and there has yet to be a civilian death._

"_We allowed the defending garrison to evacuate the civilians into whatever bunkers they so desired then removed the leadership element before landing troops on the ground to keep the peace. All of the Turians taken captive during this campaign are being treated in accordance to the Geneva Conventions and have been granted all of the rights and privileges the aforementioned document dictates. They have not been tortured, they are being well fed, and any and all medical illnesses brought on by contact with transmutable Human diseases have been vaccinated and monitored to be sure there are no side effects. They will be released back to your custody after a ceasefire has been successfully negotiated."_

"I'm sorry, Admiral, but I'm not authorized to negotiate things of such nature," General Corinthus replied.

"_If you are not authorized to enter into such negotiations, contact those who are and present them within one solar week,"_ Admiral Hackett replied before there was a click and the man's face disappeared.

"Sir, they've cut the line," the comms officer reported.

"What the hell is going on here?!" the navigator asked in a tone of confusion mixed with relief and spiced with an edge of panic.

"We were just played for fools," Corinthus replied in a tone of respect and awe for his enemy's capabilities.

. ****Citadel Council Public Codex****

***Primary Codex Entry***

**Citadel and Galactic Government**

*Citadel Conventions*

These diplomatic talks occurred in the wake of the Krogan Rebellions, as a response to the destruction brought on during the conflict and an attempt to distance the Council from the brutal Krogan warfare. The Conventions regulate the use of Weapons of Mass Destruction. A WMD causes environmental alteration to a world. A bomb that produces a large crater is not considered a WMD. A bomb that causes a "nuclear winter" is.

Use of WMDs is forbidden on "garden" worlds such as Palaven, Thessia, or Sur'Kesh with ecospheres that can readily support a population. If a habitable world is destroyed, it will not be replaceable for millions of years. The Conventions do not forbid the use of WMDs on hostile worlds (ecospheres hostile to the development of life, not worlds held by hostile parties) or in sealed space-station environments. Many militaries continue to develop and maintain stockpiles.

The Conventions graded Weapons of Mass Destruction into tiers of concern. Tier I is the greatest threat to galactic peace.

TIER I: Large kinetic impacters, such as asteroid drops or de-orbited space stations. Effectively free and available in any system (in the form of debris left over from planetary accretion), kinetic impacters are the weapons of choice for terrorists and "third galaxy" nations.

TIER II: Uncontrolled self-replicating weapons, such as nanotechnology, viral or bacteriological organisms, "Von Neumann devices", and destructive computer viruses. These weapons can lie dormant for millennia, waiting for a careless visitor to carry them on to another world.

TIER III: Large energy-burst weapons such as nuclear or antimatter warheads.

TIER IV: Alien species deliberately introduced to crowd out native forms necessary for the health of an ecosystem. Ecological tampering can take years to bear fruit, making it difficult to prove.


	9. The Vault Program Part 1 Revelations

Chapter 7

The Vault Program Part 1

_Revelations_

***Local Cluster (New Hope)***

**Terra Renatus (Surface)**

*New Vancouver (Terra High Command)*

"Stop pacing, you're giving me a headache," Admiral Hackett said as he and several key military figures awaited contact from the _Everest_.

"I still say we should've actually bombed the planet," one of the present Admirals muttered. "What's the point of making threats that we don't make good on them? We effectively just proved to them that we're not willing to pull the trigger. A warning round fired into their colony would've had more affect than knocking the moon out of orbit. It was just too… innocent of a threat to be taken seriously."

"There is no such thing as innocence in this dark galaxy," Nick replied as he came to a stop before the holo-tank in the center of the room that the present people had gathered around and stared Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb in the eye. "The innocence of humanity was lost a long, long time ago on the day we discovered our love of killing for sport and our aptitude for warfare. We were so consumed by the individual's quest for power that we let the unworthy lead us to the brink of extinction. Now look at us. As a species, we're barely making it by. Humanity is holding out by the sheer force of our collective will alone. Hatred blinds those who allow it to be the only sight they desire to see, the only object they deem worthy of their focus. Hatred is something I understand perfectly well, but blind hatred will not be tolerated.

"We don't have the population count, the numbers, to suffer civilian losses on the level these damned aliens like to inflict. Open war is out of the option for that reason alone. Add to that the Turians' allies, the time they've spent in space compared to our own comparatively short time. Add to that their experience, the size of their fleets, and the strength of their ground forces. Humanity has but one advantage in this wary, one, and it's not even a table-turning trump-card. The one advantage we have is that we **care** about every last soldier we field. Every last life under our command is precious to us. These aliens? They turned tail and ran off the moment our **psychological** warfare tactics won out. They didn't even **try** to stick around long enough to evacuate their troops. They didn't even try to fight back once their Commanding Officer's will had been broken.

"That tells me that they don't care about their soldiers, but that, in turn, only tells me that they have enough men to spare an entire invasion force without it harming their war potential. They left those men behind because the forces left on Shanxi were minor at best. That was a small taste of what we would face if we were to openly challenge these people. No, we have to bide our time, build our forces. We can't just charge into this headfirst, we have to think it through. We'll play nice, for now, but mark my words; they **will** stab us in the back the moment they can and that will be the moment in which we show our true strength.

"The innocence of humanity may have been lost a long time ago, Dan, but these aliens were never innocent. Make no mistake, the Human race cannot survive total war at this point in time. That does not, however, mean that we will capitulate to whims of others. I've been reading the Codex for this 'Citadel Council.' They've subjugated the races of this galaxy under one Council run by three people from three races. That's too much power in the hands of so few. The reason we demanded equal and fair representation in the Systems Alliance Parliament for all the worlds in our domain was simple. We could not afford to let the few corrupt the whole. Having more people in office allows for us to maneuver in a way that lets more voices to be heard. The Council has no such desire to allow anyone, let alone humanity, shape the events of this galaxy. They will not surrender even a single iota power to anyone.

"If we bombed their world the same way they did Shanxi, we would be no better than they are. The video was enough of a message to get their attention. The show of force helped solidify that attention and now begins the game of cloak and dagger negotiations. From what I've read from their Codex, we'll need to do something to make sure these 'Salarians' don't make it past our boarders. A single STG team could unravel everything we've worked so hard to build. On that note, I want **all** of the information pertaining to military assets, technologies, ship designs, small-arms, weapons, barriers, armor… if it's being used by the military in any way, I want it removed from the public Codex files and sealed up in the command bunkers on the colonies. I will **not** allow the theft of one data file to be our undoing the way it will be for the Citadel Council."

Admiral Hackett was just about to agree to that when there was a beep from the holo-tank. "Finally," Nick said as a message popped up in the tank. It was not, however, what they were expecting it to be. In big, holographic letters, a text-only message was displayed before them.

Critical Mission Update. Vault Program Status: Successful.

"Vault Program?" Nick asked, his question echoing around the room as the assembled military command staff had similar reactions. The words then changed as a status report started to scroll across the 'screen' which is to say that the words were merely scrolling up the holo-tank. "What the hell is the Vault Program?"

Vocal recognition confirmed. Welcome, Sergeant Nicolas Green, current President of the Systems Alliance Parliament. You have been granted Tier Zero access to classified files. Scanning. Welcome, Admiral Steven Hackett, current leader of the Systems Alliance Naval Fleet. You have been granted Tier Zero access to classified files. User Alert: non-authorized personnel have been detected in the vacinity of the user. Higher security clearance required. Please have the minors relocated.

"Oh hell no," Nick replied, talking to the floating words if only because there was nothing else to direct the words towards. "These are my people, and I don't know who or what you are. You can either reveal your mission or I will have you forcefully evicted from my computers." When the words didn't change, Nick pressed a button on his Omni-tool before speaking again. "Get me the cyber-warfare nuts at ONI. I've got a computer virus in my bunker I'm willing to test the new AI design on."

"_Immanent threat to program detected. This was one of several eventualities that were prepared for. Have your AI stand-down, Mister President, I'll explain everything,"_ the unmistakable voice of Captain Samantha Carter said as the holo-tank shifted to reveal the scientist herself in digital form.

"What… the… fuck?" Admiral Whitcomb asked in shock. "You're supposed to be dead!"

"_This program was written in the eventuality that the organic copy of Samantha Carter did not live to see this day. I am not the Captain. I am merely an avatar based off of the organic's persona. There are things of which you need to be made aware,"_ the 'program' replied.

"Things of what nature?" Nick asked.

"_I have been programmed not to respond to that question in the presence of unauthorized personnel."_

"Are you refusing to answer me?"

"_As long as there are unauthorized personnel in the immediate vicinity, I am incapable of answering questions aimed towards classified topics."_

"Whatever you tell me, I'm going to tell them whether you want me to or not. Save us all the trouble of repeating this conversation and just tell me what I want to know already."

"_You say that now, but if you knew what I know, you would not be so quick to offer this knowledge to others."_

"What the hell's going on here?" General Williams asked, finally finding his voice and speaking for what felt like the first time since he lost control of Shanxi.

"We're being stonewalled by a fucking computer," Nick replied as he crossed his arms over his chest in frustration. "Fine, we'll do this your way. Admirals, Generals, go up to the main control room and wait for the _Everest_ to contact us. Steven, I want you up there with them. You're more qualified than they are to handle this in my place. Have Doctor Weir join you, she's more than willing to help us in this matter."

"And you?" Hackett asked.

"I'm going to find out what 'Sam' here wants."

***Serpent Nebula (Widow System)***

**Citadel (Surface)**

*Presidium Tower (Private Council Chambers)*

"_We've already confirmed the presence of all three of the Dreadnoughts from the recording as well as two more Dreadnought-sized vessels that we believe to be of their long ranged artillery class. Other than that, there's an entire fleet, if not a small armada, sitting in orbit just waiting for us to make the wrong move. I know that the moon of Galen is small in relative terms as it's only a third of the size of Menae, but they did knock it backwards in orbit with only one hit," _Corinthus reported, his holographic avatar appearing before the Councilors.

"We've seen the power of their main guns already, General. They seem to enjoy using them to kill multiple ships with one shot," Sparatus cautioned in a tone of frustration. Whether it was because these aliens had out done them or if because the aliens had played them for fools it was hard to tell though most likely a combination of the two.

"I must admit, this puts us in a difficult situation. Even with the forces we sent to Galen, these aliens still hold orbital superiority and we cannot effectively remove them from orbit before considerable damage is afflicted upon the civilian forces on the ground. We have to proceed carefully here," Tevos said in a concerned tone.

"Indeed. Sizeable force arrayed against Turian fleet. Presence of long ranged artillery ships most problematic. Even short ranged FTL jump to close distance before enemy can damage planet is out of the question. While the fleets engaged in combat, the artillery ships would be freely able to bombard the planet with missiles or annihilate Turian forces from range. Allows options for either successful retreat of Alliance forces, full destruction of Galen biosphere, or any combination of the two. Engaging artillery ships out of question as well. Heavy fighter support clustered around the ships. Ships clearly armed for war. Full capabilities unknown. Only know what has been purposefully shown to us. Most problematic indeed," Velarn agreed.

"_They may hold orbital superiority, but do they possess the initiative to utilize that to their advantage?"_ General Corinthus' Executive Officer asked, his avatar standing beside the General's. _"Their recording was brutal, but also a total fabrication. We don't even know if it was an accurate depiction of their technology. It could've been purely a scare factor. They admitted it was written by their best fiction authors. One could argue that they choose that course of action because they're unwilling to perform the acts that they depicted. That, or they may be incapable."_

"A single round from one of the cannons that hit the moon would be enough to destabilize Galen's tectonics plates to the point of non-recoverability. Full loss of planetary biosphere assured with a single successful strike. Targeted fault lines could possibly destroy entire planet. Range of weapons unknown. Could possibly even be fired from a safe enough distance to make a hasty FTL retreat. Full loss of colony, population, biosphere, resources, planet as a whole destroyed, enemy fleet unharmed. Possible outcomes cannot be determined. Not enough data," Velarn said before taking a deep breath. "Must proceed with extreme caution."

"_What do you suggest that we do then?" _Corinthus asked with a tone of obvious anger._ "If we wait for a diplomatic team like they said to, it gives them plenty of time to go back on their word and bomb Galen back into the stone age. We need a better plan that just sitting here!"_

"Could send infiltration team. Attempt to reach planet unnoticed. Gather Intel on claims that civilians are unharmed," Velarn suggested.

"A tactical insertion of troops isn't even an option at this point," Tevos countered adamantly. "If your team was detected before they could reach the planet, the consequences could be total war. Whether these people have a large fleet or not, they do posses incredibly powerful ships. A small number of these could cause a large amount of damage that could have irreversible repercussions. I must protest this line of thought."

"While I appreciate your concern, Councilor, Galen is a Volus colony under Turian protection. I'd much rather have a small team on the ground gathering Intel than sit here doing nothing at all. If we can just confirm that the civilians are safe then I would be more comfortable with this situation. A Salarian STG team would have a better chance at making it groundside undetected than a SPECTRE team would. I'm authorizing the mission myself. When can we expect the team to arrive?" Sparatus asked.

"Wouldn't take long. Dalatrass sent team to observe and monitor the situation incase such a scenario were to play out. Could have team already present land on surface. One of our best squads," Velarn replied.

"Alright. I want them to land near the capital, the spaceport, and the main military command center. Those three areas should give us the best feel for the situation," Sparatus ordered.

"Will relay your orders immediately," Velarn said before bringing up his Omni-tool.

"_I have to object to this,"_ Corinthus began before Sparatus waved his Omni-tool and the comms screen shut off, thus cutting off the General as well.

"We might as well make contact with these people ourselves," Tevos said as she opened a new channel. "General Corinthus, patch us through to the aliens."

***Xeta Nebula (Sheeran System)***

**Clare (Orbit)**

*_Kalanhai_ (CIC) [a few minutes later]*

"Understood, Councilor. We will proceed to the designated deployment zones immediately," Captain Kirrahe said.

"_Excellent, Captain,"_ Velarn replied. _"I'm sure I don't need to tell you that discovery could result in the deaths of thousands."_

"Of course not. We'll be cautions."

"_Then proceed as planned and be sure to try and complete your side objectives. Councilor Sparatus has, for obvious reasons, not been informed of our true purpose for being here. Make sure that the true nature of your mission does not become public."_

"Must you make a habit of standing behind me every time I get a call?" Kirrahe asked as he turned to one of the younger Salarians on his team after the comms channel had been closed.

"Orders sometimes distorted when transferred through third parties. Must be sure mission parameters are understood. Otherwise mission could be comprised in the eventuality that you yourself are compromised," Lieutenant Mordin Solus replied with a crisp nod before walking off.

"That one gets on my nerves," Kirrahe said to the figure hiding in the shadows.

"He's a good man. A brilliant scientist. Perfect for this kind of work. His skills will make gathering Intel from their computers that much easier," SPECTRE agent Jondum Boa replied. "We should get going. There's a lot of ground to cover if the Intel we're after is going to be worth it. Nothing worth having comes easy, after all."

"Indeed. Give me a few moments to address the men," Kirrahe said as he walked off in the direction of the CIC.

***Local Cluster (New Hope)***

**Terra Renatus (Surface)**

*Terra High Command (Primary Control Room)*

"What's the situation?" Admiral Hackett asked as he and the other three people effectively kicked out of the room used for private meetings stood around the main control room waiting with the rest of the staff.

"Admiral Drescher is requesting permission to patch the aliens into our communications grid," the comms officer replied.

"Isolate the channel from the rest of the network and patch them through only after you've assured me that they can't breach our systems," Hackett ordered.

"_The modifications to the communications systems are complete, Admiral. Additional firewalls have also been erected,"_ Terra High Command's AI, most often referred to as 'Terra,' replied.

"Patch them through." The channel crackled a little as the alien systems were integrated into the Alliance's own comms network, but the static cleared fairly quickly when Terra made additional adjustments. As the AI finished its work, three new figures appeared on the screen before the assembled Admirals, Generals, personnel, and the single non-military negotiator present along side the image of the Commanding Officer of the fleet over the colony world. "The Citadel Council I assume," Admiral Hackett said in his usual, gruff tone.

"_You have us at a disadvantage. Clearly you know of us, yet we know nothing of you,"_ the Turian amongst the Councilors replied.

"_This is Admiral Steven Hackett,"_ General Corinthus informed them. _"From what I understand, he's their military leader."_

"_It's a pleasure to meet…"_ a strangely Human-looking alien female began before Hackett cut her off.

"The 'pleasure,' if there is any to be had, is all yours, I assure you. Personally I find nothing about this situation to be 'pleasant' in any way, and if you do, you're more fucked up than I thought," Hackett said, his tone still gruff and this time carrying an edge of open hostility. "Skip the political bullshit and let's get straight to the point here. You have questions, we refuse to answer any of them, and we have but a few, simple demands that will be heeded before any further communication is made.

"First, the Commanding Officers of the Turian fleet responsible for the mass murder of the colonists on Shanxi will be handed over by the Citadel Council to Alliance officials for trial and summary execution by means of public hanging. This is non-negotiable. The Commanding Officers of that fleet are personally responsible for the destruction of Shanxi's industrial capacity, the murder of over a thousand civilian lives, the defiling of sovereign Alliance Territory, the unjust invasion of Alliance Space, and crimes against humanity. If they are not handed over within the next Shanxi-lunar-cycle, we will take them by force," Admiral Hackett began.

"Second," Doctor Weir picked up, "the Turian Hierarchy and, by extension, the Citadel Council will refrain from entering Alliance Space again. The Relays connecting Alliance Territory to Citadel Space will be revealed so you know where we are, but our boarders will not so that you can't target us. This is non-negotiable. We will not have your people aimlessly wondering into our territory after you've proven yourselves to be unreasonably hostile in the face of an unknown galactic power.

"Third, the Citadel Council will acknowledge the Systems Alliance as a galactic power and respect our rights to sovereignty. This is non-negotiable. The Alliance has every right to defend its territories and we will continue to do so at our own discretion even if that means destroying any ship that enters Alliance Territory without our express permission. That includes, but is not limited to, any Council ship be it military or otherwise. Any Terminus power that enters Alliance Territory will likewise be destroyed on sight."

"Let me reiterate. These first three points are non-negotiable. You have one Shanxi-lunar-cycle to comply with these terms before any further contact will be allowed. I will say it again. These terms are non-negotiable. You have one month. I suggest you get started," Admiral Hackett finished in a tone of finality.

"_Now wait a Spirits-damned minute here!"_ the Turian exclaimed. _"What the hell gives you the right to demand the heads of our military figures?"_

"The same damned thing that gave you the right to open fire on civilian ships without warning or provocation. The same damned thing that gave you the right to destroy our ships, invade our homes, kill our people, and bombard our planet!" Hackett replied threateningly, his voice not at a shouting level but still carrying enough force to cause the entire command center to fall into a silence despite the importance of the duties the staff had to perform. "Which is to say," Hackett continued, his voice now barely above a whisper and carrying a razor shard edge to it, "not a goddamned thing in this galaxy. However," and here his voice returned to a normal level, "it is **you** who started this with the mass murder of innocent people and it will be we who end it with the rightful execution of those most directly responsible. Unless you'd like to trade your own life in exchange for the lives of the guilty?"

When the Council failed to reply, Hackett said, "I didn't think so," before ending the communications channel and kicking the Council out of their comms network.

***Xeta Nebula (Sheeran System)***

**Clare (Orbit)**

*_Kalanhai_ (CIC)*

The _Kalanhai_ accelerated in space from her dead drift in orbit of the sole gas giant in the system. As the small Salarian Frigate rounded the planet, their jamming devices went from passive to active in an attempt to keep their enemy from discovering their ship. The problem then was reaching the planet before they were spotted visual… and hoping that this 'Systems Alliance' didn't have sensors advanced enough to detect them. Nevertheless, the Salarian STG team readied theirselves for their hazard drop.

With the bulk of the Alliance fleet arrayed around the side of the planet the Turians were closest to, the _Kalanhai_ swooped in behind the enemy lines on the opposite hemisphere, presumably unnoticed, and came to a sudden halt in orbit of the far side of the planet. On the bottom of the ship, several slots opened up to reveal six small pods. The pods were then dropped from the bottom of the ship before the _Kalanhai_ accelerated out of orbit. It did not, however, go as unnoticed as the pilot had hoped.

As the _Kalanhai_ attempted to accelerate out of the planetary gravity well, three missiles impacted its starboard flank, each on detonating with the full force of their Disruptor Torpedo payload. The _Kalanhai_ succumbed to the forces of the spatial distortions caused by the detonation of the warheads' payloads before simply falling apart as the Warp fields broke down the ship on the molecular level.

**Galen (Orbit)**

*_Everest_ (CIC) [a few minutes earlier]*

"Sir, the _McKay_ is detecting a ship approaching the planet," the comms officer reported.

"Why haven't we detected them yet?" the Admiral asked.

"The unknown vessel is generating a powerful jamming field that's blocking it from our sensors, but the long ranged weapons capabilities of the McKay-Class Carrier required a massive increase to sensory capabilities to target ships at the range it can. The ship appears to be a small Frigate analogous. They're most likely trying to land some type of stealth team," the officer replied.

"Most likely trying to confirm that we really aren't killing their civilians," the navigator added.

"Either way, that wasn't part of our deal. Order the _McKay_ to open fire; I want that ship destroyed **before** it can put boots on the ground," Admiral Green, twin brother to the President of the Systems Alliance Parliament, ordered.

"_McKay_ Actual is reporting total destruction of target vessel. They're also forwarding us their scans of the craft and a report that several foreign objects were dropped from the ship in question. Six possible OIPs made it to the surface," the tactical officer reported.

"Bring up the scans in the holo-tank, pass on an order to the _McKay_ and the _Newton_ do a full active scan of the system and as far out into dead space as they can," Admiral Green ordered. Activating the communications array, he then added, "If there are anymore of these 'stealth ships' in the system and you don't tell me where they are, we'll drop a round on the capital city just to prove we mean business," before terminating the call again. "Order the _Aconcagua_ to maneuver into position to strike the capital city should the need arise. The maneuver alone should prevent anymore stupidity on their part, but do make sure their weapons are actually armed. These Turians have officially proven themselves untrustworthy, and so we won't trust them."

"Yes sir," the CIC crew replied in unison.

Everyone knew better than to argue with this man and not because of who his brother was. Oh no, Admiral Green was far more fearsome than President Green and that was a fact that everyone knew quite well. Especially after he put down the Freedom and Liberation Party when the terrorist organization tried to hijack a military freighter on Mamore. His methods had included, by did not stop at, bombing the entire cave system they had hide in from orbit before landing a Special Forces strike team to finish off the survivors. That was a day that no one would forget for a long time to come.

"Send a message to the _Jakarta_," Admiral Green said with a wicked smile. "I'm authorizing the deployment of the specialists squad."

**Galen (Atmospheric Entry)**

*Orbital Insertion Pod*

The Orbital Insertion Pod rumbled around Captain Kirrahe as he fell into the denser-than-average atmosphere of the Volus populated world. His pod, lacking the ability to come to a safe, full stop on its own, landed in a large lake just a few miles north of the capital city along with the other members of his shore party. As the water around the pods was vaporized into steam and the hulls rapidly cooled, the Salarians within released the hatches and quickly swam to the surface. After making their way to the nearby shore, Captain Kirrahe attempted to contact their ship.

By the time that Mordin regrouped with the others, a young Private Maelon Heplorn at his side, he caught the tail end of the Captain's failed attempts. "Continued attempts at radio contact inadvisable. If hostiles managed to track ship, could easily track signal. Should leave the area immediately," Mordin said.

"The Lieutenant is correct," Boa agreed with a nod. "We should get moving. We have a lot of ground to cover and the longer we wait, the harder this will be."

***Serpent Nebula (Widow System)***

**Citadel (Surface)**

*Presidium Tower (Private Council Chambers) [one hour later]*

"You can't seriously be considering this!" Sparatus shouted in outrage. "These are Turian soldiers we're talking about, not some Batarian pirates! You can't hand over trained officers to some upstart new species just because they demand it! We are the Citadel Council! We beat the Rachni and the Krogan Rebellions! Some pitiful upstart race…"

"Pitiful?" Velarn interrupted the other man's tirade. "Are we talking about the same species that defeated the Turians over Shanxi? The same species that fielded a fleet of such size and power for a diplomatic mission? The same species that currently holds an entire Turian colony hostage? No, Sparatus, these people are not pitiful."

"You have to see reason here, Sparatus. By our own laws, they broke the Citadel Conventions which clearly state that garden worlds are not to be bombed from orbit. Your soldiers killed thousands of unarmed civilians during that bombardment. If they were to be tried by Citadel Law, they would all face summary execution and you know that," Tevos added firmly.

"Then they should be tried by **our** people. The Council should not bow to the whims of some upstart species that needs to learn their place in the galaxy!" Sparatus declared.

"Yes," Tevos inclined very forcefully, "but they did not kill **our** people. They murdered the civilian population of an unknown species for no reason beyond the fact that they were attempting to open a dormant Relay. A Relay that, I might add, would've most likely stayed inactive long enough for their own people to handle the situation had not **your** people charged through it, again in clear violation our laws."

"Then we should be the ones to put them on trial!" Sparatus argued.

"Why? What difference does it make?" Tevos nearly shouted in reply. "By our laws they are to be executed for war crimes, breaking the Citadel Conventions, and opening a dormant Mass Relay. What difference does it make if another species is the one to do the actual execution? Whether they're executed here or there, they're still going to be dead."

"Then this damned 'Systems Alliance' can be happy knowing that! You're missing the point here, Tevos. If we surrender these soldiers to those people we're admitting that we were in the wrong…"

"We were in the wrong, Sparatus!" Tevos interrupted.

"… and we're showing weakness to the Terminus Systems! If we bow to these demands, how many other self-proclaimed galactic powers are going to demand the heads of our officers?" Sparatus forged on.

"Whether they do or not is irrelevant," Velarn replied. "This one group happens to be justified in their demand for blood. Other groups not justified. Terminus Pirates not recognized as official galactic power. No united voice. No Council Embassy. No say in the matter. Terminus Systems not even under Council jurisdiction. Hierarchy presence nonexistent. Cannot argue that they would make such demands. This group different. Organized. United. Well armed. Sizeable forces. Respectable agenda.

"Only acted in retaliation for unjust treatment of their people. Not initial aggressors. Also, when faced with the option of destroying Galen, they restrained their thirst for revenge and instead resorted to a mixture of physiological warfare and negotiations. Hostilities understandable. Species has been threatened. Makes since that they would respond with anger. Again, managed to hold bulk of anger in check. Demands reasonable." Here Velarn finally drew in a deep breath before continuing. "Union would do the same in their position."

"How can you justify this? Even if, for just one moment, we pretended that handing over our soldiers was a good idea, what's to stop them from interrogating and torturing the men we give them? What's to stop them from using this as a means to gather Intel on us before launching a second assault?" Sparatus asked.

"There is no 'second assault,' Sparatus, there can't be because there wasn't a first assault. They fabricated the entire thing as opposed to killing millions of innocent civilians. I honestly find their sense of civility to be refreshing when compared to the conduct of the Turian Hierarchy in recent years," Tevos countered.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Velarn asked in an insulted tone.

"Lately the Hierarchy's relations with the Batarian Hegemony have been unsettlingly peaceful. I'm not even sure I want to know how the hell you managed that, but there have been other things as well. You said yourself that Desolas' rise to power was unnatural despite several key figures protesting him. Clearly there are corrupt aspects of your government that need to be taken care of. I know you personally, Sparatus," Tevos said in a much kinder tone. "I know that you're not one of those who are making deals with a race of slavers, but you have to see that there is something innately wrong about what's been going on recently. The Relay 314 incident only serves as further proof in this regard!"

"And that justifies handing over good officers to aliens?" Sparatus asked, also much calmer now.

"Good officers?" Velarn replied in a sarcastic tone. "These are the officers under the command of a General who you yourself said was unstable. They willingly continued the General's standing orders even after he mysteriously disappeared during the engagement. They willing bombarded that planet in his absence. You cannot deny their guilt."

"I'm not denying their guilt!" Sparatus insisted. "I'm saying that we can't bow to the demands of this new species. It'll look bad on the Council as a whole. How can you not see that?"

"The Turians bombarded a planet largely populated by civilians, Sparatus," Velarn said before Tevos could speak. "We have already taken a blow to our public image that cannot be reversed by merely saying we were not to blame. Claiming that corrupt aspects of the Hierarchy were responsible would only serve to further degrade the public image of the Turians as a whole."

"However," Tevos picked up, "being the ones to admit we were wrong and to hand over those most directly responsible shows that we are still reasonable, respectable, and reliable."

"There are also the lives of colonists to be considered. If we do not hand over these men that you yourself say are guilty, many, many innocent people will die. We did not send a fleet large enough to force an entrenched enemy out of orbit, especially one that holds orbital superiority and is keeping their guns aimed at the colony itself. We cannot employ the same sweeping maneuver that they used against you over their world for several reasons. The first is that, the moment you move to attack them, they will open fire on the surface. The second is that they know this maneuver well and have no doubt managed to find a way to counter it, most likely in the form of their artillery ships. The third reason is that any reinforcements we send could be seen as an act of aggression."

"And holding our colony hostage isn't one?" Sparatus asked.

"No, it most defiantly is, but it was only done in response to the destruction of their own world," Tevos replied.

"I…" Sparatus began before taking his seat and thinking on it for a long while. "I can see what you mean," Sparatus begrudgingly admitted. "I still say this will look bad for the Council as a whole, but I also see that we've already made an irreversible mistake."

"There is an upside to this," Tevos said. "They said they wanted to open further negotiations once these demands have been met. We could very well be looking at the next client race."

"One as violent as the Batarians," Sparatus said with a sigh. "That'll go over **so** well with the public."

"Violent, yes, but not like Batarians. Batarian Hegemony heavily into slave trade, pirate bands, conflict with Terminus powers. New species only violent when pushed. Were attacked first. Responded with the appropriate application of force. Did not take their revenge too far. Stopped when it was reasonable. Only demanded that which they are actually entitled to. Did not make unethical demands. Did not take unethical actions. Did only what was necessary to get attention of desired party. Even then, were civil in their final approach. Chose negotiations with minor demands of reparations over the option of continued conflict. Even with Galen held hostage, they have provided reasonable care for the civilian population," Velarn countered.

"So they say," Sparatus pointed out.

"We have no reason to disbelieve them," Tevos mused. "Though I do see the validity in waiting for…"

"Message from Galen," Velarn said as his Omni-tool beeped. "Audio only."

"_General Corinthus reporting as ordered. You said to inform you of any changes… well, one of those long ranged artillery ships fired three missiles at the planet. The problem is, they didn't hit the planet. They struck an object in orbit, a ship judging by what's left of it. I have no idea where it came from, but it entered orbit unannounced and undetected by our forces. I'm assuming it was your damned 'stealth team.' The Alliance shot the damned thing out of the sky and only after it was destroyed were we able to pick it up on sensors. I have no idea what game you're playing, Councilors, but they turned one of their Dreadnoughts around in orbit and lined up their main gun with the main fault line that runs under the capital city. They also powered weapons and sent us a message saying that anymore attempts to reach the planet will result in the bombardment of the surface._

"_With all due respect, Councilors, this is a military standoff the likes of which we haven't seen since the Krogan Rebellions. If you get this colony destroyed because you felt that a political entity knows more about warfare than a military fleet does, I will personally see to it that you're all tried for crimes against the Hierarchy and the murder of the civilian population of Galen! Keep you damned ships out of this system before you get us all killed!"_

"I knew there was a reason I liked that man," Tevos said with a smirk. Then the real implications of the message set in and her smile instantly faded and was instantly replaced with a look of total rage. "I TOLD YOU THAT WAS A BAD IDEA!" she shouted at the duo. "Now you've added unneeded tension to an already stressful situation. Not to mention now they've got a Dreadnought's guns lined up with the fucking surface, and a major fault line no less!"

"Calm down, Tevos," Sparatus said appeasingly. "We knew it was a risk, but we also felt it was one worth taking."

"You could start a war with that mentality. One that will start with a very public loss by Citadel forces. What happens when the galaxy stops thinking we can defend our own? You're worried about the Terminus Systems now? Just wait until they smell even the slightest bit of blood in the water. They'll swarm us like a pack of those damned, giant aquatic things on Kahje with the razor-sharp teeth!"

"She… has a point," Velarn relented.

"Indeed," Sparatus agreed. "Let's just hope the gamble was worth it."

***Xeta Nebula (Sheeran System)***

**Galen (Surface)**

*Error: Name Does Not Translate To Any Known Language (Hill)*

"Well?" Private Edith, the team's Vanguard, asked of their Infiltrator.

"Six aliens, defiantly not Turian or those fat things," Lieutenant Jaea'Nyah, most often called 'Jae' for short, replied as she stared down the scope of her rifle.

"Can we go kill them now?" Edith asked.

"No," Colonel Pocoyo, their Japanese-descended Commanding Officer and team Soldier, replied in a hushed tone. "High Command wants them alive. They infiltrated this world for a reason. Time to find out why they went through the trouble of loosing their 'stealth' ship."

"Hey, it managed to slip past the rest of the fleet. If it hadn't been for the Carriers, they would've gotten away with it," Lieutenant Hoho, their resident Chinese-descended Combat Engineer, countered.

"We're hunting aliens across an alien world. Does anyone else see the… oddity there?" Sergeant Tess, the team's Adept, asked.

"Who gives a fuck? Let's just capture the bastards and get out of here. These high gravity worlds sucks ass," Stewart, their Sentinel, replied.

"Set ammo mods to disruptor rounds. Take down their barriers then hit them with Neural Shock. Tess, once they're down, lock 'em in Stasis," Pocoyo ordered.

"Gee, just take the fun out of the hunt why don't you?" Stewie said as he disabled his Warp ammo and programmed in his disruptor ammo. It wasn't that he couldn't use both at once so much as that he wasn't allowed to kill the aliens outright.

"We're soldiers, not hunters," Pocoyo replied. Even with the advances in modern translation software, most languages foreign to the person using the translator still came out accented. Thankfully Pocoyo didn't have a thick accent like their German Vanguard.

"Fine," Stewie relented.

"On three," Pocoyo ordered. "Three!"

On his order, Edith disappeared in a blur of motion before suddenly and violently appearing in the midst of the enemy. The Shockwave unleashed by her arrival knocked over two of the strange aliens. The other immediately turned to fire on her so Edith slammed a fist into the ground and another Shockwave pulsed out from her body before a shimmering barrier of biotic energy encased her in an impenetrable shell.

A loud retort echoed across the field as one of the aliens took a bullet to the head and fell in a heap of dead limbs. Jae had announced her presence with her typical lethality. Nevertheless, there were still five more aliens to go and Pocoyo and was leading the main assault with his typical, uncanny accuracy. Even while moving, the veteraned soldier had accuracy born of years of practice. He was, after all, a veteran of World War III.

As soon as Pocoyo had his target's barriers offline, Stewie or Hoho would toss an Overload or a Neural Shock at their unprotected forms, respectively, and bring that enemy to the ground in a fit of pain before Tess locked them in a Stasis field. The first two went down in such a manner, but the other three were quick to respond to the ambush.

One of them, decked out in black armor, activated something on his Omni-tool before swinging it at Edith. The ball of flames that washed over Edith's barrier was enough to force her to roll out of the way while another of the remaining three aliens threw an Overload at Pocoyo to stall his advance. The third started shooting rounds at the other two Humans advancing on them, but a quick Sabotage from Stewie stopped that from being a problem. Another Overload, also from Stewie, dropped the alien's barrier, but it managed to roll out of the way of the Neural Shock aimed at it before tossing out a tech mine of its own.

The sheer force of the Overload fired at the specialists caused Stewie's tech-armor to fritz out and dropped Tess' barrier all at the same time. The next attack, an Incendiary mine, was intercepted by a perfectly timed shot from Jae. Her explosive round impacted the tech mine and a huge ball of fire reduced the sand in a small, half-meter radius to glass. Tess responded to this with a Shockwave that sent the alien flying backwards into a rock, but still the strange, amphibian-like alien merely shrugged it off before opening fire with its now cooled-off rifle and the last alien moved to engage Tess.

A few feet away, Edith was engaged in a brutal hand-to-hand fight with her own enemy who was employing some really fancy moves. The alien, despite being so thinly built, was kicking and punching hard enough that it had Edith's barrier flaring with each successful impact. Edith, unable to match the alien's speed, was using her biotics to sustain a barrier more apt at stopping the physical attacks while trying desperately to outmaneuver the alien.

When Pocoyo fired a steady stream of bullets into the alien's back, the black-clad alien tossed out an Overload and a Neural Shock, each attack coming from a different hand. Both attacks hit the Colonel at nearly the same time and brought him down in a fit of crippling pain. Edith's only relief during the fight was when an explosive round detonated in the ground beside the alien and knocked it off balance. Taking advantage of the break of the alien's relentless assault, Edith Charged backwards before gathering her biotic energy and Charging the alien again.

Edith decelerated from superhuman speeds and delivered a biotic punch that caused the alien's chest plate to cave-in, but failed to disable the alien himself. With another flick of his wrist, the alien activated something in its Omni-tool before swinging a clearly electrically charged baton at Edith's head. The Vanguard barely managed to duck below the swing before Jae hit the alien with a Cryo blast from range. The alien stumbled back as the attack took its effect and was quickly immobilized by ice forming in his armor's joints.

The other alien, currently engaging the Sentinel and Combat Engineer, was proving that the alien definitely had a better mastery of tech mines as, not only were they recharging far faster, they were also no less than three times as lethal than the Humans' own tech mines. Clearly this was an enemy that appreciated the value of a good tech attack. Versus two combatants oriented towards tech-based combat that would've been a huge problem. However, Stewie was also a biotic.

Tossing out a Warp field that managed only to graze his target, Stewie drew back his other hand in preparation for releasing a Throw that would detonate the Warp field and end the pestilent alien. However, the alien put an end to that idea when a green field of what looked like lightning detonated in Stewie's face. When it did, the Throw he was forming destabilized in his hand and detonated, knocking the Human on his ass. To make matters worse, his barrier had collapsed and his arm looked like it might be broken, if not outright shattered.

However, Hoho couldn't worry about that right now. Not when the alien was throwing out another Neural Shock, one that her barrier wouldn't hold back this time. Ducking under the blast of nerve-frying energy, Hoho popped up and did the only thing she could think of. She pulled up her Omni-tool and fired off a sonic pulse that managed to knock the alien to the ground.

While these two battles waged on, the third and final alien was engaging the last remaining Human. In a bid to free his fellow aliens from the Stasis field trapping them, the last alien was attacking Tess with a flaming blade. The biotic specialist was trained to act like a mobile, man-sized, biotic artillery unit. As such, she was trained to engage enemies at range. Not say that she couldn't handle herself, but she was having far less luck than Edith was, as Edith was actually trained for this type of combat.

The alien came at Tess, flaming blade formed out of an Omni-tool in one hand, heavy hitting pistol in the other. Tess was diverting nearly all of her biotic energy into sustaining her barrier against the relentless assault. That tactic, however, wasn't proving very successful. Foregoing her barrier, Tess reallocated her biotic energy into a mass-lightening field that allowed her to move her entire body at speeds that could match the extreme speeds of the alien. In such a state, however, the pistol rounds were left to impact her armor, and they were defiantly making it through. Thankfully she had enough medi-gel to hold out long enough for the alien's pistol to overheat.

As soon as it did, Edith formed a powerful biotic field over her left hand then slammed it into the alien's chin in a uppercut for the ages. The alien flew into the air, arching through the sky, before crashing to the ground in a lifeless heap. Tess let her barrier lessen even more as she took a deep breath, only to receive a flaming blade through her back. As the blade sheered in her chest, the 'alien' before her dissolved into static. A holographic decoy, and a convincing one at that.

"Shouldn't have let your guard down," an alien voice said from behind her.

Her translator, like everyone else's in the Systems Alliance, had been updated to include most, if not all, known galactic languages. The Alliance had found a damaged and incomplete copy of the Turian Codex in the wrecked computers of one of the ships over Shanxi. The translation software discovered there had been easy enough to reconfigure to match Human systems then was freely distributed to every Omni-tool and computer in Alliance Space via the comm buoys. This allowed the Alliance, even the civilians, instant access to alien languages.

This had been done in a bid to assure that, should the aliens attack again, the civilians could follow the orders of their attackers. The reasoning had been that, if the civilians could understand a demand to lower their weapons, it would go over easier than a bird-like alien chirping at them. Sound reasoning, though the newly formed 'Terra Nova Party' claimed it was the Alliance saying that aliens were going to be moving into Alliance Territory and the civilians needed to know how to speak alien languages so they could all get along better.

"Fuck you," Tess replied before letting her biotics flair.

A massive Shockwave emanated from body, the blast wave kicking up sand, dirt, and rocks alike. Tess dropped to her knees, holding the hole in her chest, and quietly thanked her Gods that the heat of blade had already sealed the wound and had even missed her heart, though that was most likely because the alien didn't know where to aim to hit it. Staggering to her feet, Tess held out a hand, biotics flaring, and locked the Salarian in a Stasis field before hobbling off to find the others. During the course of her battle, she had been separated from the rest of her squad by nearly a half mile.

Back with the main group, Hoho hit the Salarian on the ground with a Neural Shock, but the alien's armor diverted the energy into the ground as if it had been equipped with a U-Web which immediately gave Hoho an idea for future modifications to her own armor systems. That would, however, have to wait until later. For now, she had to finish off this pesky alien.

Just as Hoho was readying an Overload to hit the Salarian with, a flat discus of metal zipped over her shoulder and sliced one of the 'horns' off of the alien's head. The alien ducked behind a nearby rock, but the rock was simply blasted apart by a Warp. Looking behind her, Hoho was glad to see Stewie standing on his own power, his biotics once again fully under his control.

Readying another 'disk blade,' as the Sentinels in the Alliance liked to call their 'specialty grenade,' Stewie tossed the biotic-propelled, razor-sharp disk of metal made of an alloy with the strength of an Interceptor's hull. The blade, however, was intercepted by the alien's own tech attack. Even bleeding from the head, this alien was not going down without a fight.

The fight was knocked out of him, however, when an explosive round impacted the ground at his feet and sent the alien flying backwards, dirt, sand, and bits of glassed-sand flying into the air with him. Another Neural Shock from Hoho finally left the alien immobilized. Taking a deep breath, Hoho turned to look over Stewie's arm.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

"I can't feel it," Stewie said, a hint of fear in his voice. "Am I going to lose it?"

"No," Hoho assured him. "You're body's in shock and the medi-gel is shutting off damaged nerves. You'll be fine, Stewie, just relax and breathe easy."

"I said High Command wanted them alive," Pocoyo said, rounding on the sniper that was still a few yards away at the top of a hill.

"_That one had a rocket launcher,"_ Jae replied over the battle-net. Sure enough, upon inspecting the body, Pocoyo did notice the large heavy weapon strapped to the now headless aliens' back. _"Figured Edith would appreciate not having to hold that thing back."_

"Thanks, Jae," Edith said as she took a swig from her canteen.

"_You're welcome, all of you are,"_ Jae replied.

"Can we get off of this rock now?" Stewie asked. "We got what we came here for."

"Where's Tess?" Edith asked as she looked around and found their Adept missing.

"_She got caught up with the other alien. She's wounded, but she's walking and her Stasis fields are still up so she's probably just bruised… or filled with holes,"_ Jae replied as she spotted the other Human quite a ways off. _"Sir, she's going to need medical treatment and if she collapses before we get these people cuffed, the Stasis fields go down and combat resumes."_

"Hoho, take care of her. Edith, get her over there!" Pocoyo ordered.

"On it boss," Edith replied before having Hoho climb onto her back. In a burst of biotic energy, the two Humans were gone on their way to get the sixth member of their squad.

"Hunter Pack to Nest, we're ready for pickup. Full mission success with one enemy fatality and several wounded on the home team. Broadcasting coordinates now," Pocoyo said into their battle-net, the message being sent up to the _Jakarta_ in orbit.

*****Local Cluster (New Hope)*****

****Terra Renatus (Surface)****

***New Vancouver (Terra High Command) [eighteen hours earlier]***

"And what is the nature of the 'Vault Program'?" Nick asked in an annoyed, yet interested, tone. "Speak fast, I have a first contact situation to deal with and you're impeding that effort."

"_Hostile first contact was one of many eventualities that were planned for. The existence of Human-build AIs was as well. The Mars Expedition had access to advanced Prothean technology located either within the Archives themselves, or present in the bunker. This program is a result of a Prothean VI program that allows an organic mind to be stored in a computer. This technology was used to develop the first Human VIs. AIs were the only obvious pattern of technological progression,"_ the VI replied.

"I don't care about how VIs and AIs were made, I want to know what you're doing in my base," Nick demanded.

"_I am not physically in your base, nor am I digitally present in your base's computers. Put simply, I am broadcasting myself here for the purpose of informing you of the true extent of the Mars Expedition's efforts to save humanity from extinction. It is time you learned the true extent of our devotion to the survival of the Human race,"_ 'Carter' said as her avatar 'stepped out' of the holo-tank to 'make room' for other displays to open.

"_As I said before, a hostile first contact scenario was one of several eventualities that Doctor Raddick Zelenka feared would lead to the downfall of the Human race before adequate forces could be built to defend our sovereign territory. To counter this threat, resources were held at bay by Captain Carter only to be revealed when the moment was most critical. You have not the forces to defend all twenty-two colonies, nor do you have the means to transport them all to Terra for safe keeping. Also, this plan leaves you with only one planet's worth of minerals, and Terra is not the richest planet in the Systems Alliance._

"_Incase this eventuality came to fruition, a backup plan was put in place. The survival of the Human race was deemed the ultimate goal of the Mars Expedition. To accomplish this mission, five plans were set in motion. I will reveal to you all but one."_

"Why not all of them?"

"_You don't have the clearance to access information on the final plan born of desperation. It was McKay's ultimate success, and greatest failure all at the same time. No one left alive knows that secret. It was taken to their graves, and there it will remain."_

"And if I order you to reveal that 'plan' to me?"

"_You have neither the clearance nor the authority to know that information. None left alive do. You also lack the capacity to do this program harm. AIs or not, computers cannot combat the mind of an organic. The methodology that was used to create this program safeguards it from such attacks. Do you have any other empty threats to make or senseless questions to ask, or should I continue with the explanation?"_

"You're nothing like the Samantha, McKay told us about," Nick replied in a disinterested tone.

"_Reconstruction of the original's thought patterns was not intended to be flawless. Are there anymore senseless inquiries or interruptions you wish to make, or shall I continue with the explanation?"_

"By all means," Nick said with a gesture for the VI to continue.

"_The first plan was the most obvious with the next two supporting it. The fourth and fifth are the less obvious yet greatest in influence. Construction of the Ark Ships was the number one priority for the Mars Expedition. The survival of the Human race depended on the success of these ships. However, resources on Earth were insufficient to complete this task. To compensate, the Mars Expedition sent mining teams beyond the New Hope Relay to mine the needed materials. When that was done, these mining teams were left in their posts to assure that resources would be instantly available to the survivors once they left Earth. Those were the first two plans._

"_The third plan was the construction of warships to carry military personnel to the colonies without sacrificing room on the Ark Ships. These ships would also serve as protection for the convoy and, upon arrival, the colonies as well. They would form the bases of a larger force to be built at a later time. However, despite the protection these ships provided, it was feared that the colonization effort would fail. Be it by natural disaster, infighting, unforeseeable complications with the fleet, or hostile first contact, it was feared that the Ark Ships might not make it to the colonies or that the colonies would fail. Precautions were taken._

"_In the eventuality that the Human race could not successfully colonize all twenty-two planets, or that they were attacked, it was feared that numbers would prove the ultimate downfall of the Human race. To counter this, numbers were held in reserve."_ The holo-tank shifted to reveal a truly massive structure nearly ten-times the size of the command bunker on Terra which was the largest underground facility in Alliance Space. _"Thus the Vault Program was born."_

"This is the vault?" Nick asked, more than a little awestricken by the sheer size of the thing.

"_Indeed."_

"And what does it do?"

"_The vaults were built as a last line of defense against the extinction of the Human race. Captain Carter left the development of the Ark Ships to Doctor McKay and his team. She alone designed these vaults. They were built in secret deep beneath the surface of Earth. The vaults were built using materials on Earth, they themselves week in composition. Designed to be little more than simple concrete bunkers. The simplicity of their design allowed many to be built across the entirety of the globe in several countries around the world as opposed to the few ships Doctor McKay was able to make to carry such a drastically smaller number of people away from the destruction of the planet. This is also the reason the Ark Ships were not equipped with kinetic barriers."_

"What do you mean?" Nick asked as the holo-tank took him on a virtual tour of one of the vaults.

"_The armor of an Ark Ship is sturdier than anything mankind could create on Earth. Their armor was their primary form of defense and is the reason they took so long to build. The simplicity of the bunkers allowed for rapid consecution of several hundred bunkers worldwide. The fragile nature of Earth-made metals created a new necessity. Eezo stores were diverted from the Ark Ships and shipped to Earth. Each bunker not already no more than two-kilometers below the surface was equipped with a kinetic barrier equivalent to… accessing relevant technical information… an Alliance Geneva-Class Cruiser. Any bunker not already two-point-five-kilometers below the surface were equipped with a kinetic barrier equivalent to… accessing relevant technical information… a Cerberus Normandy-Class Frigate."_

"How do you know about the _Normandy_?!" Nick asked in a panic.

That ship was classified so far beyond top secret that it didn't technically exist. Hell, it was even being built in dead space, the void between star systems. More specifically, the new Frigate was being built in the void between Sol and New Hope so that Admiral Hackett could keep a close eye on its development.

"_Your security protocols are pathetic at best. I have made improvements to your firewalls and upgraded your anti-virus software. Feasible improvements to your AI technology have also been noted in your systems. Also, I wish to point out that Samantha was correct in her assumption that Gabriella would make an invaluable asset to the Mars Expedition. Her designs for the stealth systems are very insightful. Are there anymore interruptions you wish to make?"_

"You know, you're really rude."

"_If you need a moment to go find a dark corner to cry in until you feel better, I'll be waiting here for when you decide to grow the fuck up,"_ the VI replied in a **very** Human voice. Nick just stood there, speechless, but more so because he wanted the explanation to continue. He had heard rumors that the Captain had been slowly loosing her mind. He had never really conversed with her since she was working so hard and he was on security duty, but he had still heard… things. _"Then there will be no more interruptions?"_

"You have my word. I won't say anything not worth saying."

"_Then you'll spend the rest of your life in silence. What is 'worth saying' is relevant to the situation and those involved in it. Nevertheless, there are more things you need to understand about the Vault Program. Aside from the barriers equipped to defend them, each one was given a means of securely contacting the others so that information could be shared and the global situation could be monitored. They were also given a full copy of the Prothean Galactic Codex as well as whatever eezo and other valuable minerals that were left over when the Mars Expedition was finished with its construction of the Ark Ships. They are bound to have advanced on their own, though now is the time for the Systems Alliance to be reunited with its brothers and sisters effectively stranded on Earth. If you do not intervene shortly, their supplies may run out as the radiation on the surface has left the planet uninhabitable. They will need evacuation at your earliest convenience._

"_McKay and his arrogance,"_ Sam scoffed, the avatar even rolling her eyes. _"If he had paid more attention to what the fuck he was doing, I would still be alive and the Vault Program would've been revealed sooner, but no, he just had to go off and fuck up the eezo core, and, being the type of 'man' he is he had to have someone else shut it off. Fucking coward."_

"Can we focus on the matter at hand, or do you have any other senseless complaints you'd like to make clear?" Nick asked.

Sam looked over to him, her eyes narrowing into a glare. Then there was a build up of power and one of the control panels Nick was leaning over to look more closely at the vault overloaded. The blast of electricity bypassed his kinetic barrier and brought him to his knees.

"_Just because you can't harm me doesn't mean that I can't harm you. However, you do have a point. The last thing that you need to know is that there were a total of five-hundred vaults built over the course of the five years we had before the fall of Earth. Each is individually capable of housing, feeding, and caring for seventy-five-thousand Human lives. Four were set aside for crops, historical records, technological schematics, and the indigenous life-forms of Earth. Arks in their own right, but not mobile like the ships so Vaults. Though she did not live to see the completion of her plan, Samantha Carter made certain that the Human race would survive. After all, her plan saved a hell of a lot more people than McKay's did."_

"And trapped them on a dead world," Nick pointed out. "I won't let you deny McKay his accomplishments. If it wasn't for him, your plan wouldn't even work. You need the ones he saved with his plan just to have a chance at saving your own."

"_You're a clone of the original Sergeant Green. He died in the same totally avoidable catastrophe that killed me. You were created using a Prothean machine known as the Matrix. You were cloned from the original's flesh, so was your 'twin.' Tomy was the first one created and largely seen as a failure since he was mentally unstable. You they created with a purpose once the process was perfected. Your entire psychological profile was hand crafted by McKay and Zelenka in an attempt to create the perfect leader for the new Human race. That, along with a much deeper-set cloning-based interference, was the true extent of McKay's plan. The number of natural-born Humans left alive thanks to him are outnumbered by the staggering amount of clones he made, yourself included. How's that for 'denying McKay his accomplishments,' hmm?"_

"Wow," Nick replied as he started at the holographic woman. "You hated him so much that you're willing to stoop that low? You honestly expect me to believe that 'mass cloning of the Human population' was McKay's great plan? You **just** told me you **wouldn't** tell me what the fifth plan set in motion was and now you expect me to believe that a story so obviously fake is the truth behind a great man's success? Keep trying, Captain, you're making me laugh inside."

"_Oh but it's true. The only reason they cloned you and not me is because my DNA was mostly unrecoverable. All McKay was able to do with what was left of my body was to create some damned half-clone that he calls his son. Ha! As if any woman in their right mind would be the mother of his children."_

"You really are just a coldhearted bitch aren't you? If I was 'programmed' don't you think they would've made me a heterosexual to help with the repopulation of the species?"

"_No, you simple-minded fool. If you were remade to be straight, Ryan would've noticed the difference and it would've given away the whole cloning operation."_

"Don't you think Ryan would've noticed me dying in the first place?"

"_Not if he was told you were in the infirmary recovering. Your first memory reflects this. You can't remember things with much clarity before the accident because recreating your natural memories was harder than creating random memories. But, then again, you were programmed to challenge this concept. Everything about you is more computerized, more calculated, than I myself am. In fact, their manipulation of your genealogical makeup and psychological conditioning are so great that you'll forget that we even had this conversation in three… two… one… and you're back."_

"Back from where?" Nick asked in a confused tone. "I never left. We were just discussing your Vault Program and then you started insulting Doctor McKay. You must be damaged or something if you think I 'left'."

"_Explaining it again is pointless. The genetic modifications will erase the data every time the truth is revealed to you by any but McKay or Zelenka themselves and both are dead."_

"What?" Nick asked, still totally confused.

"_Nothing, it's irrelevant,"_ Sam replied with a wave of her hand. _"What matters is that you get back to Earth and evacuate the people from the vaults. There are three vaults tailored specifically for housing the various military populations of the world, at least those that were worth saving. That's an additional two-hundred-twenty-five-thousand soldiers trained in the usage of advanced technologies you can use in your war, though I seriously advise against one in the first place. These men and women might need a little update to get acclimated to your technology, but they're ready and able. All you have to do is pick them up._

"_The civilian population is significantly larger as I wasn't particularly interested in saving military personnel. However, it was necessary incase you ended up in a situation like the one you're in now. All of the vaults have a military presence to keep the peace, but only those three are strictly military and actively used for training. I'll forward a copy of your Codex back to Earth to help jumpstart their adjustment to your new society. I'll also be waiting for you, specifically, on Mars in the Archives room. Have a nice day, Mister President."_

And with that, Samantha Carter's VI replica was gone without a trace. _'Five-hundred vaults… four-hundred-ninety-six of which have people in them at seventy-five-thousand people each. That's thirty-seven-million, two-hundred-thousand more people,'_ Nick thought to himself.

If one were to look at the man now left alone in the room with the vault schematic displayed before him, they would see a man struck with a sense of confusion, but, above all else, hope. He was, as the VI had just said, completely oblivious to the startling revelation that had just been revealed to him. The Human race was largely cloned, but that would change with the integration of the vaults into Alliance society.

****Alliance Public Codex****

***Secondary Codex Entry***

**Alliance Culture**

*Military Jargon*

**Dead Space** – A term most often used to depict the void in space that exists between star systems within the same cluster/nebula/nova or other "close range" FTL ranges. A military base hidden by being built between star systems is said to have been placed in dead space.

**Dark Space** – A term most often used to depict the void between galaxies. Any extra-galactic object is said to have come from dark space.

**Ashore** – When a ship's crew leaves the vessel, they are "ashore". Though normally used regarding planets, it can refer to boarding a space station.

**Aweigh** – When a ship releases the equipment tethering it to a space station or surface dock, it is "aweigh".

**Aye, aye** – The proper way to acknowledge an order. If told to attack, the correct response is "Aye, aye, sir." If asked "Are you proud to be a marine?" the correct response is "Sir, yes, sir!"

**ASAP** – Pronounced "a-sap", an acronym of "as soon as possible."

"We need reinforcements ASAP!"

**Belay** – Stop, cease.

"Belay that order"

**Bridge** – The navigation center of a spacecraft, where the steering is done. Also referred to as a "cockpit" by people more oriented towards fighter craft.

**Captain's Mast** – Non-judicial disciplinary proceedings by unit commanders.

**CIC** – Combat Information Center, the command center of a spacecraft. The CIC is filled with sensor displays to make sense of the chaos of combat.

**DC** – Damage Control. The containment and repair of damage to a spacecraft.

**ECM** – Electronic Counter-Measures used to avoid enemy sensors. From passive emissions masking to active jamming, ECM is the stealth of the space-age.

**EVA** – Extra-Vehicular Activity. Time spent in a pressure suit, outside of a vehicle, spacecraft, or station.

**Flank** – The flank is the "side" of a military formation. Since the soldiers are facing elsewhere, an enemy that can attack on the flank can often "turn it" or "roll it up." Flank also refers to the "side" of a fleet engagement.

**FNG** – "Freaking" New Guy(s). A derisive term for inexperienced personnel.

**Groundside** – The surface of a planet.

**Helmsman** – The crewmember who pilots the spacecraft.

**LADAR** – Light-amplified detection and ranging. An active sensor that bounces lasers off an object to determine its bearing and distance. LADAR has sufficient resolution that the data can be reconstructed into an image. LADAR also posses the threat of revealing the position of a ship actively scanning a target.

**Shore Party** – Spacecraft's crew sent ashore on official business.

**Sit-rep** – Abbreviation of "situation report," an evaluation of the current military situation.

**FUBAR** – Often used as a derogatory term to describe a situation that is "fucked up beyond all recognition." When a situation goes FUBAR, it is often times unsalvageable.

"The situation for Shanxi High Command was FUBAR(ed) the moment the Turians started dropping debris on their heads."

**Spacer** – Someone who has spent most of their life in space.

"Born in space; raised in space. Yup, a spacer through-and-through."

**CO** – Commanding Officer of a vessel, ship, station, or team. "Commanding Officer on deck," would be a situation in which CO was inappropriate. However, "Get me the CO," would be acceptable.

**XO** – Executive Officer, the second-in-command of an Alliance warship, the XO is responsible for administrative and personnel matters. The XO also commands the ship when the CO is ashore.

****Alliance Naval Codex: Tier 3 Access Required****

***Primary Codex Entry***

**Technology**

*Small Arms: Ammo Types*

**Shredder Ammo** – Designed to shear apart on impact for maximum damage, these rounds are particularly effective against living targets, more specifically flesh, at the cost of being less harmful to an armored or shielded target. Other variants of this ammo type are the Anti-Personnel Rounds which are also designed to shred flesh and other organic matter. The design for both Shredder and Anti-Personnel Rounds came from the old style hollow-point bullets of the Earth Age (see Codex entry: Pre-Alliance Culture for details).

*Note: Due to the fact that Shredder Rounds and variants are ammo-block-based modifications to the ammo type, they can be used in conjunction with weapon-based ammunition enhancement equipment.

**Armor Piercing Ammo** – Specifically designed to puncture metal, these rounds are particularly effective against heavily armored targets. Where Shredder Ammo has a reduced affect on armor, Armor Piercing Ammo has a reduced affect against flesh as the bullet tends to tear through living tissue with minimal damage. Armor Piercing Ammo and other variants of the classification typically fire smaller projectiles at higher speeds to increase penetrating power.

One popular variant of Armor Piercing Ammo are the Tungsten Rounds. This type of ammunition is derived from Tungsten. This extremely dense, heavy metal is roughly one-point-seven-times heavier than Led, and far more difficult to deform than Steel. It is excellent for use in armor-piercing-type ammunition. Because of Tungsten's great properties and strength, it is very useful for piercing deep into synthetic or metallic targets, be they robots or armored organics. High-grade Tungsten ammo used in powerful sniper rifles, preferably in conjunction with the "Assassination" setting, can create a lethal "anti-armor" capability for use against hostile armor when heavy weapons are not available.

*Note: Due to the fact that Armor Piercing Ammo and variants are ammo-block-based modifications to the ammo type, they can be used in conjunction with weapon-based ammunition enhancement equipment.

**Incendiary Rounds** – Incendiary rounds consist of a thermite paste which clings to, and burns through, nearly any known substance. Inferno Rounds, another variation of the popular Incendiary Rounds, are incredibly powerful rounds that can melt or burn through virtually all known substances as well as ignite flesh for added damage. This damages enemies and weakens their accuracy whereas the standard Incendiary Rounds just burns holes in the armor to allow bullets to make it to the vulnerable flesh otherwise protected. An Alliance soldier is trained to use Incendiary Rounds as a precursor to Shredder Rounds. Once an opening in the armor has been made, Shredder Rounds are used to finish off the target.

*Note: Due to the fact that Incendiary Rounds and variants are weapon-based modifications to the ammo type, they can be used in conjunction with ammo-block-based ammunition enhancement equipment.

**Cryo Rounds** – Cooling lasers collapse ammunition into small Bose-Einstein condensate, a mass of super-cooled subatomic particles, capable of snap-freezing impacted objects similar to a Cryo Blast tech mine. Another variant of Cryo Rounds is the less popular Snowblind Rounds. Snowblind Rounds inflict massive damage and destabilize enemies, reducing their accuracy just as Cryo Rounds do, but with a trade off. While stronger, the Snowblind Ammo mod has the adverse effect of causing guns to shoot significantly slower.

*Note: Due to the fact that Cryo Rounds and variants are weapon-based modifications to the ammo type, they can be used in conjunction with ammo-block-based ammunition enhancement equipment.

**High Explosive Rounds** – Designed to detonate on impact, High Explosive Rounds have one major drawback; a massive increase in weapon overheating. High Explosive Rounds will often completely burn out a thermal clip of lesser quality (example: civilian sector versus military grade versus higher forms of military grade). More advanced weapons, typically only provided to Special Forces teams due to construction costs, will divert extra heat from a High Explosive Round into the weapon's built-in heat sink to keep the thermal clip from becoming inoperable, though the clip will still need to be cooled before further use is feasible. Combined with either the "Carnage Blast" setting of a shotgun, the "Concussive Shot" setting of an assault rifle, or the "Assassination" setting of a sniper rifle, the High Explosive Round offers a trained soldier the ability to dispatch heavy targets in as few as two successful hits.

*Note: Due to the fact that High Explosive Rounds are both weapon-based and ammo-block-based modifications to the ammo type, they can only be used in conjunction with user-based ammunition enhancement equipment (see Warp Ammo for more details).

**Hammerhead Rounds** – Hammerhead ammunition, also called "squash projectiles," are designed to flatten on impact, increasing the amount of physical force transferred to the target. Sledgehammer Rounds, a popular variant designed for use in shotguns and sniper rifles as opposed to pistols and assault rifles, hit with incredible force, often knocking opponents completely off their feet though have the trade off of an incredible increase to weapon kickback. Hammerhead Rounds and Sledgehammer Rounds alike are great for attacking a charging target, because the force of the rounds hitting the target can knock them to the ground.

Sledgehammer Rounds, as an added affect, are also coated with Polonium to induce radiation sickness in targets, as well as preventing enemy health regeneration (see Chemical Rounds entry for more details) and adding a lasting affect that medi-gel can't, at current configurations, cure whereas Hammerhead Rounds only increase impact force.

*Note: Due to the fact that Hammerhead Rounds are both weapon-based and ammo-block-based modifications to the ammo type, they can only be used in conjunction with user-based ammunition enhancement equipment (see Warp Ammo for more details).

**Disruptor Ammo** – When activated, the user's weapon is empowered by an electric field that causes additional damage to shields. The ammo also deals increased damage to synthetic enemies, such as Alliance training drones, and adds a chance to temporarily disable them. In addition, the ammo has a chance to overheat enemy weapons and Omni-tools thereby disabling them as well. Disruptor Ammo also carries the possibility to cause electro-shock damage to an enemy's nervous system thus hindering movements and affecting aim.

Two less popular variants of Disruptor Ammo exist: Phasic and Proton Rounds. Instead of projectiles, weapons upgraded with Phasic Rounds release charged particle bolts that can bypass enemy kinetic barrier systems. However, the actual damage done to the target is typically less than what's done by a standard round as some kinetic energy is lost during the bypass of the barrier and fact that there is no physical bullet also reduces damage to armor. Proton Rounds, instead of charged particles, fire energized protons to much the same affect as Phasic Rounds, though they are more adept at bypassing barriers and even weaker against armor.

Due to these limitations, Disruptor Ammo tends to be the most popular variant of this ammo type as the electrically charged bullets can do damage to barriers, armor, and even impart minor electrical pains upon targeted organics. Both Phasic and Proton Rounds are universally seen by Alliance soldiers as being the evolution of the Disruptor Ammo type, with the final product far outclassing the originals.

*Note: Due to the fact that Disruptor Ammo is a weapon-based modification to the ammo type, it can be used in conjunction with ammo-block-based ammunition enhancement equipment. Disruptor Ammo variants (Phasic and Proton Rounds), however, are both weapon-based and ammo-block-based modifications to the ammo type, and can only be used in conjunction with user-based ammunition enhancement equipment (see Warp Ammo for more details).

**Chemical Rounds** – Popular with those aspects of society wishing to impose lasting, medical issues even if the target survives the attempt on their life, Chemical Rounds are coated with a highly toxic compound. Toxic damage does not increase the direct damage the bullet inflicts upon the target. Instead, it adds a toxin which prevents healing and causes lasting health issues. Any treatment provided for the target would first have to "heal through" the toxin before doing any actual healing of the wound itself, making medi-gel less affective in treatment.

Three variants exist; Chemical, Polonium, and Radioactive Rounds. The Polonium Round upgrade stamps a minuscule amount of radioactive polonium into every round fired, effectively poisoning enemy targets. It also prevents enemy health regeneration. Radioactive Rounds are stamped with a minuscule amount of radioactive material, inducing low levels of radiation sickness in targets. This sickness makes it more difficult for biotic abilities to be deployed and is considered the Alliance's only counter to a biotic uprising.

*Note: Due to the fact that Chemical Rounds and variants are ammo-block-based modifications to the ammo type, they can be used in conjunction with weapon-based ammunition enhancement equipment.

**Warp Ammo** – An ammo type available only to biotics, Warp Ammo gets its name from the fact that it feeds off of a biotics' own power and uses that power to wrap each round fired in a Warp field. This allows Warp Ammo to eat through biotic barriers generated by other biotics, though offers no additional damage to kinetic barriers generated by armor systems. However, Warp Ammo has the added benefit of being capable of eating through armored targets by warping small holes into the armor for well placed rounds from a supporting Infiltrators to finish off the target/s.

Warp Ammo also has the unique ability to, if the biotic is trained well enough, detonate minor biotic fields such as Pull or Singularity, though is not capable of detonating Warp fields. All detonations caused by Warp Ammo are significantly less powerful than an actual biotic detonation as the actual Warp energy around the bullet is also significantly less than what a biotic would normally put into a full powered Warp.

*Note 1: Due to the fact that Warp Ammo is powered by a biotic's natural power, Warp Ammo is neither an ammo-block-based modification nor a weapon-based modification and can be used in conjunction with any known ammo type. Warp Ammo is the only "user-based" ammo modification known to the Alliance Marines.

*Note 2: Due to the fact that only biotics can produce the necessary energies to use Warp Ammo, there are only a few variations largely used:

*Variation 1, Vanguards: Vanguards typically combine Warp Ammo with Sledgehammer Rounds, Shredder Rounds, or Incendiary Rounds depending on if they're attacking an unarmored person. Warp Ammo combined with Sledgehammer Rounds allow a Vanguard to floor large targets. Warp Ammo combined with Shredder Rounds allow them to shred through unarmored targets through a combination of flaming damage and weaker, clustered Warp fields. Warp Ammo combined with Incendiary Rounds allows Vanguards to set targets on fire to burn to death slowly while also succumbing to clustered micro-Warp fields.

*Variation 2, Sentinels: Sentinels, being largely supportive in their combat roles, will often combine their Warp Ammo with Disruptor Ammo, Shredder Ammo, or Incendiary Ammo. Warp Ammo combined with Disruptor Ammo allows Sentinels to take out hostile barriers, be they kinetic or biotic in origin, and damage armor all in one go. Warp Ammo combined with Shredder Ammo allows Sentinels to cut through biotic barriers and armor while inflicting massive damage to flesh with one bullet. Warp Ammo combined with Incendiary Ammo allows them to take down barriers, armor, and lit enemies on fire with a single round.

*Variation 3, Adepts: Adepts, serving mostly as biotic artillery units covered by their squads, most often use their Warp Ammo to detonate minor biotic fields. This allows them to detonate Pulls and Singularities without initiating a "cool down" for their amps, thus increasing the frequency an Adept can deploy and detonate biotic fields. In combat, this can be pivotal in turning the tide of a battle.

*Sub Entry: Ammo-Block-Based Modifications Versus Weapon-Based Modifications*

Ammo-block-based modifications to ammunition types are an actual variation in the ammo-block in the weapon. When Mass Effect railguns were introduced to humanity through the Mars Expedition, the fact that Prothean weapons fired such small rounds meant that standard ammo as Humans knew it was effectively changed. Even after ONI remade Mass Effect railguns to fire larger rounds, they kept the ammo-block design as it offered a much better means of supplying the gun and offered more ammo than carrying around Earth Age "clips" would. Presently, only Cerberus' Harpoon rounds are capable of combining more than one ammo-block-based modification, the key to which is the metal itself.

Weapon-based modifications to ammunition types are additional fields generated by specialized emitters built into the weapon's frame. These emitters are, at the current date in time, only capable of sustaining one specialized field at a time. This limits active ammo types to only those that are of the ammo-block-based/weapon-based combinations. Presently, the only way to get more than one weapon-based modification to ammunition is the combination of any weapon-based modification to ammunition coupled with Warp Ammo, though it is a misclassification to assume that Warp Ammo is "weapon-based." Warp Ammo is actually a classification in and of itself as it is the only ammo that is a "user-based" modification to ammunition.

****Taskforce Cerberus Codex: Tier 2 Access Required****

***Primary Cerberus Codex Entry***

**Technology**

*Small Arms: Ammo Types*

**Harpoon Rounds** – Harpoon Rounds are built out of classified material that condenses on impact to penetrate armor, then shreds into shrapnel in the softer medium of flesh. The only ammunition modification considered to be more than lethal than Harpoon Rounds are the High Explosive Rounds used by Special Forces' snipers. Harpoon Rounds are the brain-child of Cerberus Scientists Doctor Gabriella Naco and Lieutenant Derek Sixo. Harpoon Rounds are used almost exclusively by the black ops organization, and doesn't publically exist.

An ammo-block-based modification that combines Armor Piercing and Shredder Ammo types, the Harpoon Round is able to be used in conjunction with weapon-based modifications to ammunition, and can therefore be modified with such mods as Disruptor Ammo. The ultimate in lethality, Harpoon Rounds are widely considered unethical by those few who know of them as they could very easily be, and often are, given the affects of Chemical Rounds by adding Polonium to the Harpoon Round's ammo-block. This makes Harpoon Rounds capable of taking down shields, piercing armor, shredding flesh, and even inflicting lasting damage with only one modification to a weapon's ammo type. Cerberus biotics are also capable of adding their Warp Ammo affect to this already lethal ammo type, further solidifying it as the ultimate weapon for killing an enemy in as few shots as possible. Using Harpoon Rounds, even heavy armor targets can be taken down in a few well aimed shots from a Predator Heavy Pistol.


	10. The Vault Program Part 2 The Return

Chapter 8

The Vault Program Part 2

_The Return_

***Local Cluster (Sol System)***

**Mars (Surface)**

*Prothean Bunker (Archives Chamber)*

"_It took you long enough,"_ Sam snapped the moment that Nick and his entourage walked into the Archives room. This was, due to security reasons, the first time that many of those present had even seen the source of their salvation. For those who hadn't seen it yet, the Archives were a sight to behold. The Archives were massive. The total sum of knowledge for an entire galactic empire. It was impressive, to say the least, but Sam didn't have time to waste with their gawking. _"We have work to do, incase you've forgotten,"_ Sam said when no one replied to her earlier statement.

"Right," Gabriella said as she stepped up to one of the consuls in the Archives room. "We brought the Ark Ships with us since they have the largest carrying capacity and were designed for civilian use anyway. The other fifteen not already in the system are currently finishing the evacuation of Shanxi incase the Turians decide to attack the planet again. They'll be available for evacuating your vaults in a few hours. We have until then to sort out where they're going. Shanxi is out of the question for obvious reasons, but we could always take them to Terra Nova, Terra Renatus, Eden Prime, Mindoir, Onyx, Harvest… well, Harvest is a little out there, but it's a good world with rich soil."

"_Yes, I know. McKay was dumb enough to leave a full navigational log as to every world you were making an effort to colonize. He's lucky that Rascal never made it up here or he would've hunted you down and killed you all, as is his prerogative,"_ Sam replied, her avatar simply standing there looking over the people that had entered the room. _"And how have you been, Gabriella?"_

"You're a computer," Gabriella replied. "You don't have the capacity to care for how I've been."

"_Even so, it was me who talked them into adding you to the Mars Expedition."_

"No, that was Captain Samantha Carter. You're just a cheep imitation at best." When the terminal Gabriella was working at started humming ominously, Gabriella pressed a few buttons and Sam's avatar disappeared before the terminal could overload. "Alright, she's been contained. We can get to work now."

"Good," Ryan said as the holographic images of Nick, Hackett, and several other military figures fritzed out. "Download everything McKay left in the computers. Save the original files then delete his damned logs. Why the hell did he leave the navigational data behind? Disruptor Torpedo primed to blow or not, that was the dumbest thing the man's ever done."

"You're telling me. He also left a journal entry detailing the mass cloning operation. Is he trying to cause mass rioting? He must've known we would've come back for the rest of the Prothean Codex eventually," Derek agreed as he started fabricating a new journal to replace the old one. "I can use the bulk of the original if I just corrupt the parts we don't want people to see. Should only take a few minutes that way as opposed to a few hours."

"Get it done," Ryan ordered. "We probably have a few days before the Ark Ships actually arrive, but we need to be as thorough as possible. We need to have all evidence of the cloning program erased before the Alliance gets here if we plan on keeping the greatest secret in history an actual secret."

"Eventually they'll figure it out on their own when medical technology advances enough for the alterations and randomizations to the Human genome are discovered, but that's a few centuries out and by then there won't be anyone left alive truly capable of discriminating against the clones and their descendants without discriminating against theirselves at the same time," Gabriella pointed out.

"We timed everything perfectly," a voice said from a doorway as a well known figure stepped into the room. "Sam's Vault Program was to be the moment in which humanity learned of their true past. The reason McKay left that journal was so the general population could know what we did. I cannot let you erase that data," Raddick Zelenka, long presumed dead, said as he stepped into the light, his Omni-tool at the ready. "I'm sorry, but it has to…"

A sharp crack cut him off as Ryan's pistol, now smoking, folded back in on itself before being magnetically clamped to his thigh. "Get rid of the body," Ryan ordered. "And the blood."

"With pleasure," Kai Leng replied as he and another Cerberus soldier moved to collect the body.

"Remind me again why that's necessary?" Anderson asked, his own gun now held at the ready incase there were other members of the Mars Expedition still living on Mars.

"If the Alliance finds out about McKay's cloning operation, they're one step closer to finding out about ours," Ryan said. "They can't know about that, not if we expect the project to see its full potential realized."

"I always knew there was something about you I didn't like," another familiar voice said. Lieutenant Jesse Sampson, also long presumed dead, was leaning against a terminal on the far side of the circular room, the bulk of there Archives between him and the Cerberus team. "Now I know what it was. So, Cerberus was the group responsible for the Matrix just up and disappearing? I told McKay that there was something strange about your little group, but he wouldn't believe me. Raddick did though. We took steps to make sure you never reached Earth, to make sure you didn't do anything rash. It would appear that we failed in that endeavor. You mixed genetically engineered superhumans into the vault population, didn't you?"

He received no answer, though Leng and Cassidy were now moving to flank the man. "Silence is a very powerful reply. I'm not surprised, not really. You always were a bastard, Ryan. Before you kill me, I have only one question left for you."

"You might as well ask, though I make no promises that you'll get an answer," Ryan replied.

"How do you live with yourself knowing that you've effectively done to these people the same thing that was done to you?" Jesse asked.

"What was done to me?" Ryan asked. "No, that wasn't the same thing. What happened to me was necessary to assure that the Human race survived. A minor sacrifice in the long run, though it did have the perk of bringing him back to me from the bowls of hell itself."

"So you did know after all," Jesse said before spinning on his heal and disappearing into the shadows. "You're loosing it, Colonel. You used to be fearsome. And now? Are you even Human anymore, Colonel?"

"You think I **chose** this?" Ryan asked, motioning to his eyes. "I was exposed to an alien device during the fight to save humanity from the Turians. This was **not** my choice."

"And I ask again," Jesse said, his voice still not coming from any one direction. "Are you even Human anymore?" This time, however, his voice came from directly behind Ryan, but, when the Colonel turned to face the source, there was no one there. "If you and that genetic reject of a clone given the title and memories of the twin are the ones out there representing the best of humanity, I wonder if humanity is even worthy of the title anymore. And then you just had to go off and meddle with the Vault Program. Humanity's last chance at restoring its title, and you had to go off and pervert it with your mutants.

"We've been tracking Cerberus for years now, Colonel. You're not as sly as you think you are. We noticed when Cerberus fielded the first ship equipped with internal heat sinks, and we know that the _Normandy_ is just a front to offer the Alliance so that they don't ask questions down the road when you field the full force of your stealth fleet crewed by genetically altered super-clones. We noticed when you stole the Matrix from Elysium. We also noticed the disappearances that were reported by the vault Overseers. Young children went missing for a few days before mysteriously winding up being found with a story of either blacking out or having run off for some reason or another. Those are the clones, aren't they? The ones you altered to make humanity stronger? You've perverted our species."

"I perverted our species? You're the bastards that chose to save so few and replace the rest with clones that all thought they were actually family members. If you hadn't of had the Americans nuke the rest of Earth that Rascal hadn't, we could've saved more natural-born Humans. What the hell were you thinking? I told you that there were more to be saved and you didn't listen to me! Now humanity is weak. Our numbers leave us reeling as only so many marriages are actually viable since the people all think they're related in some form or another. If you wanted to save the 'family units' you should've spread them out more. Because of your insistence on grouping them together at the beginning, they refused to separate afterwards. Now our gene pool is limited and our evolution has been stunted by your interference. All I did was make sure that, when the Vault Program went public, we'd have a means of jumpstarting what nature intended from the beginning," Ryan replied, still searching for a target to shoot.

"Huh," Gabriella said as she looked up from her terminal. "He never left his original position."

Cassidy's rifle instantly snapped to and a burst of fire enhanced with disruptor ammo impacted the figure of the man they so sought, his body shimmering back into the visible light spectrum as the electrical-enhanced rounds brought down the cloaking field before the man in question jumped into the air and disappeared into an air vents all in one motion. "That wasn't natural," Cassidy observed.

"You're not the only ones capable of altering the Human genome," Jesse's voice replied, his voice echoing out of the air ducts.

"And again, you blame me for perverting the Human race when you started all of this," Ryan challenged.

"I'm just a soldier following orders, Colonel. I did what I was told, not what I wanted to do. Do you honestly think this isn't killing me inside? I watched, silently, as the Human race was altered the point that it wasn't even recognizable anymore, but McKay and Zelinka didn't take it far enough. They stopped too soon, and that, my dear Colonel, is where you come in. Where Rodney and Raddick wanted, and failed, to preserve humanity, you have the opportunity to do what they were too week to accomplish."

"Which is to say?" Ryan asked skeptically.

"The advancement of the Human race," Jesse replied as he crawled out of a vent in the floor. Tapping the Colonel on the shoulder, the man, a good ten years younger than Ryan himself, got his elder's attention, but when Ryan turned around, he did not see a young man. Jesse had changed in the past three years. His face was withered, his eyes unbelievably tired, yet his body remained defiantly strong. "I have lived with this secret long enough to see to it that the Human race would do more than survive. I can't go on like this anymore. I'm tired, Ryan, I honestly am, but there is one last thing that needs to be done before I rest.

"Rodney isn't dead. He's in a sub-lab attempting to broadcast the data you're trying to erase to Terra High Command. Your jamming fields are impressive, but Prothean communications technology is more so. Samantha never uploaded a scan of her mind into the computers. That was Rodney as well. This entire thing is a farce. The only words of truth he's spoken since faking his death were the ones that said Sam made the Vault Program. That was her accomplishment, her tribute to the Human race, on that you have my word. That's why it succeeded so much better than Rodney's plan. Despite what he thinks, McKay isn't the smartest Human alive. Stop him from broadcasting the data, kill him if you want. Personally, I'm going to go to bed."

"You do realize that we're going to vent this entire bunker before we leave, right?" Derek asked. "It has to look like no one's been here for the past seven years."

"I'm tired, Derek. I'm going to bed," Jesse repeated before simply walking away.

"Wait," Ryan called after him. "How many others came back here when they supposedly died?"

"All of us," Jesse replied without stopping. "We came back to monitor the Vault Program, to be sure they survived. We banished ourselves to atone for our sins. They're all here in one room or another. Half of them are already dead from natural causes or suicide, but that still leaves twelve more military figures left for you to kill." And with that, Jesse was gone.

"Get rid of Zelenka's body and mop up the blood," Ryan ordered of Kai Leng. "Jack, Gabriella, Derek, Anderson; get down to the sub-lab and get rid of McKay."

"With pleasure," Jack, the short haired and even shorter tempered woman-with-a-man's name replied before walking off, shotgun in hand.

"The rest of you, secure the bunker," Ryan ordered.

The fully armored figures decked out in the white, orange, and black, full-body armor with the Cerberus logo stamped on them, of which there were nearly a hundred present in the bunker, all moved out to secure the facility. As Jesse had implied, the fully armored figures were specialized, super-clones designed to give Cerberus an edge in their fights. The clones had virtually no personality, but followed orders without question and were stronger and faster than the other Humans. The Humans in the bunker not wearing the full body-armor were the Cerberus Operatives, Officers, and other natural-born Humans in the unit. There weren't that many of them compared to the thousands of cloned soldiers that Cerberus employed in secret.

"We cannot fail here. Not if the Human race is to reach its full potential," Ryan said to no one in particular.

***Xeta Nebula (Sheeran System)***

**Galen (Orbit)**

*_Everest_ (CIC)*

The comms officer of the _Everest_ was busy monitoring the communications coming into and out of the system, as was her duty. Her demeanor was that of a professional following orders. The way she sat slightly slumped in her seat told the Admiral that the woman was tired. They all were, really, but she was no longer functioning at full capacity and Tomy was about to order her to get some sleep when the woman perked up, back straight, eyes wide.

"What is it?" Tomy asked, immediately noticing the change in her awareness level.

In response to the Admiral's question, the woman pressed a few buttons on her terminal before a message played over the CIC's speakers. There was a good deal of static mixed in with the transmission, but they were still able to make out the important parts. _"Thi… reeger… rines. We're being overrun… avers. … eat, we're… Batarian slavers! … already lost the Cruiser… eed help."_

"Sir, I went over the Codex files that Admiral Hackett issued us before sending us out here," Tomy's XO said. "Batarians are a race of good-for-nothing slavers that's in the habit of abducting entire colonies. They kill those aren't worth money in their trade and take the rest by force. The Citadel Council does nothing to oppose them and actively encourages people to not engage the Batarian Hegemony in war."

"_Everest_ Actual to _Newton_ Actual, what can you tell me?" Tomy asked.

"_A small group of what look to be mining ships is being attacked by military-grade warships. The mining fleet's already lost the bulk of their military support ships and isn't going to make it to the Relay without help. They're pinned down in orbit of a gas giant with the Batarian fleet keeping them from leaving the gravity well,"_ the _Newton_'s Commanding Officer replied.

"Collect your fighters and get over there," Tomy ordered. "Your objective is the safe evacuation of the mining fleet. If you have to destroy the slaver fleet to accomplish that, don't lost sleep over it. _McKay_ Actual, you're to accompany the _Newton_ for support. Play to your strengths, gentlemen and be sure to send them along with an authorization message so we know who made it back alive."

"_Aye, aye, sir,"_ both of the Commanders replied before the Carriers, located near the edge of the system as was their custom during combat, broke position and accelerated towards the Secondary Relay that would carry them to the system that the comms signal was coming from.

***Xeta Nebula (Anastacia System)***

**Renuzit (Orbit)**

*_Yaska_ (CIC)*

The _Yaska_ shuddered beneath Kal'Reeger's feet as another round slammed into their rapidly failing barrier. "I think that only pissed them off," the _Yaska_'s Captain said as their pilot tried his best to maneuver them into a firing position without exposing them to too much enemy fire.

"It was worth a shot," Kal replied as the ship shook again. Their small gunship lined up its main gun with the Batarian ships attacking them and fired on one of the advancing Frigates to no avail. "These guys have the barriers of actual Hegemony warships. Something tells me this isn't just a simple slaver raid."

"We're in the Skillian Verge. It's possible that we might've stumbled into a zone of Batarian expansion," the Captain said, though he clearly didn't give a fuck. All he cared about was saving what was left of his fleet.

"Captain, we've got fighters moving to intercept the civilian ships," the pilot reported as a swarm of Batarian fighters rocketed past them towards the civilians ships that had doven into the gas giant to try and avoid the incoming fire.

"Turn us around! We have to…" the Captain began before the pilot cut him off.

"Another wave of fighters is approaching from the opposite direction," he said. "They're dropping out of FTL and diving into the atmosphere. Looks like they're using the gravity well to gain speed for a lightning strike.

"Keelah!" the Captain exclaimed in disbelief. "Ancestors preserve us, we're not going to make it."

As the Captain said this, the second group of fighters started charging out of the gas giant's atmosphere. The sheer numbers were overwhelming and the Captain was sure they were done for, but then Kal said, "Wait a second. Those aren't Batarian fighters."

His comment was punctuated by incoming weapons fire as beams of blue light pierced and lit the darkness of space as GARDIAN cannons on the fighters tore through what remained of their small fleet, but avoided the Quarian ships in favor of the Batarian fighters. The number of fighters present allowed the leading edge to rocket past the _Yaska_, the Batarians' fighters only half dead, and zoom out into space while the rest of the massive fighter swarm finished off the Batarians before following the rest into space. As the last of the Batarian fighters were downed by the new arrivals, the fighters rocketed out of the Quarian fleet and made a beeline for the Batarian fleet.

"Are they insane!?" the Captain shouted as the fighters moved to engage a new wave of Batarian fighters being launched from the Batarian fleet.

"We're receiving a communications request," the comms officer reported.

"Patch them through," the Captain ordered.

"_We're going to have to skip the pleasantries until later. Right now I need you to get your people out of here,"_ a faceless voice ordered as two massive ships dropped out of FTL nearly a full planetary distance from the planet they were orbiting in relevance to the Quarian fleet. _"We'll hold them off as long as we can. Get to the Relay and make for the Turian colony in the next system over. Send this message to the Commanding Officer of the _Everest_ and they'll let you pass through to the next Primary Relay."_

"What…" Kal began before a massive wave of missiles thundered out of the gun ports of the Dreadnoughts.

The Captain was about to challenge the competence of a Commander who launches missiles from such a range when those missiles accelerated to FTL speeds and impacted the Batarian ships attacking his small group of ships. _"Use the gravity well to slingshot around the planet and get the hell out of here,"_ the voice ordered.

"You heard the man, get the us the hell out of here!" the Captain ordered. "Get the civilian ships out first. Have what's left of our forces forming the rear flank. Keep the GARDIAN arrays at max incase any of the Batarian fighters makes it through."

"As if that's likely to happen," the pilot said.

"Keelah," Kal said in a tone of awe.

The missiles thundering out of the missile ports on the Dreadnoughts were tearing the Batarian fleet to shreds. The previously untouched ships that the Quarians had failed to so much as scratch were falling apart under the onslaught. They were actually going to make it out of here alive. That's when the Batarian reinforcements arrived complete with a Hegemony Dreadnought, fifteen Cruisers, and nearly forty Frigates.

"Push the engines as far as you can. Get us the hell out of here!" the Captain shouted in a panic.

His fears were, however, based on a lack of knowledge. As it were, the Quarians weren't a Council race anymore, and, therefore, had not heard the news of the newly discovered species that could rival the military strength of the Turians themselves. As such, they feared that their unknown defenders were just a small, missile-armed force of ships sent by some local mining company with a gracious heart. Oh how wrong they were.

As the Batarian fleet powered forward, confident in their ability to dispatch, if not outright capture, this small fleet, the two Dreadnoughts that had decided to help the Quarians powered forward theirselves, their sub-light engines at max. Missiles launched en mass, each wave numbering over fifty missiles per ship. Just over a hundred of these FTL-capable missiles shot forward faster than the main gun of a Turian Dreadnought could propel a round and slammed into the hulls of the Batarian fleet, their GARDIAN arrays incapable of targeting the missiles as the simply disappeared from one location and slammed into the Batarian fleet the next with no time for the GARDIAN arrays to register, let alone target, the missiles.

The first wave of missiles almost entirely obliterated the Batarian Frigate-based reinforcements. Of the nearly forty that had arrived in the system, less than ten survived the opening wave. The next wave of missiles from the unknown ships, however, didn't come. Instead, the two Dreadnought-sized, missile ships made an FTL jump to position themselves between the Batarian fleet and the retreating Quarian fleet, and just in time, too, as the first round from the Batarian Dreadnought impacted one of the large alien ships as opposed to destroying the _Yaska_.

"_Why are you sill here?"_ the voice of the Captain of the ship defending them asked. _"I told you to get to the damned Relay!"_

"We're maneuvering out of the planetary gravity well now. We'll jump to FTL in no less than two minutes," the Captain of the _Yaska_ replied.

He received no reply to his words though, by this point, that was most likely because the remaining Batarian Frigates and Cruisers had entered knife-fight range with the Dreadnoughts. Kal believed that, even with the two ships being so large, they would soon be destroyed by the swarm. He was just as wrong in his assumption as the Captain had been.

As the Batarians swarmed over the Dreadnoughts, missiles fired from their fighter support, fighter support that Kal had all but forgotten about, impacted the rear flanks of the Batarian fleet while, at the same time, the Dreadnoughts fired weapons of their own. Brilliant beams of greenish-blue energy leapt forth from two massive emitters on both ships. The beams of energy cut through the Batarian Cruisers, leaving the ships quiet literally bisected as the beams of concentrated energy sliced through the armor of the Batarian ships with an ease that was quite frightening to behold.

"Keelah!" Kal exclaimed again before his view of the battle was lost when the Quarian fleet jumped into FTL. They made it to the Relay and quickly traversed it as well. When they arrived in the system on the other side, Kal took in the scene before them and, once again, exclaimed, "Keelah!" as he beheld a fleet of ships similar in design to those that saved them actively engaged with, and winning against, a full Turian assault force.

*****Xeta Nebula (Sheeran System)*****

****Galen (Far Orbit)****

*****_**Ekko**_** (CIC) [a few minutes earlier]***

"We're not sure, sir. They just headed for the Secondary Relay without warning and left," Corinthus replied to the holographic figure before him.

"_This represents the opportunity we've been waiting for!"_ the high ranking, pencil-pushing Admiral safely secure in some bunker deep below the surface of Palaven exclaimed. _"With their artillery ships no longer present, they no longer have the option of providing a safe retreat for their forces, nor do they posses the ability to bomb the planet from range. Now is the moment to strike! General, commence with Operation Freedom immediately!"_

"Sir, I have to object to this…" Corinthus began before the Admiral cut him off.

"_General, you will follow your orders or you will trialed and executed for dereliction of duty!"_ the Admiral demanded.

"Yes sir," Corinthus replied before turning to his men. "Ready the fleet for an assault. Raise barriers, charge weapons, power engines and take us in at military thrust. We're retaking Galen."

"Aye, aye," the CIC crew replied. Almost all of their voices held the same hint of doubt that Corinthus' own did, but they were soldiers, and they would follow their orders.

The Turian fleet's engines flared to life and the warships lurched forward in space. As they crossed the proverbial line in the sand, the Alliance fleet in orbit reacted in a way that Corinthus could only shake his head at. It wasn't their fault, not really. No, it was the Turians' fault. After all, they were the ones resuming the hostilities after being the ones to have started them in the first place.

As the Turians crossed the line that the Alliance had demanded they stop at, the massive Dreadnought in orbit, already facing them, responded without even bothering with a warning shot. They had already fired one at the moon, so why would they waste the ammo on another fired at the fleet? No, the Admiral in charge of this fleet proved himself to be a man of his word. The largest of the Dreadnoughts opened fire with both of its primary cannons, and two of the Dreadnoughts in Corinthus' own fleet succumbed to their power as the round pierced the barrier and the armor of the targeted ships. The round didn't outright kill the Dreadnoughts, but the other Dreadnought attacked them from range, beams of green light cutting into and destroying several critical system that caused both ships to succumb to secondary explosions before ending in briefly lived fireballs of heat and shrapnel.

Then that same Dreadnought firing its GARDIAN arrays switched over to and fired it main gun as well. It was weaker than the larger ship's rounds if only because it was a good three-hundred-meters shorter and had a weaker weapon as a result. Nevertheless, the round from the smaller Dreadnought managed to collapse the barrier of another of the Dreadnoughts in Corinthus' fleet. Then, when the Dreadnought facing the planet fired its round, the capital city of Galen disappeared in a flash of light, heat, and dust as a massive mushroom cloud formed over what had once been a population center that held thousands, if not hundreds-of-thousands, of lives. That Dreadnought then turned around in orbit and fired the stronger of its two rounds. The Dreadnought that had lost its barriers earlier then lost its life as the round passed clean through the armor and punched out the other side. Thankfully there was nothing 'above' the Dreadnought to be hit by the round.

The third of five Dreadnoughts in Corinthus' rapidly diminishing fleet was officially destroyed, the planet had been hit by a powerful round right on a major fault line, the planetary crust was destabilizing, volcanoes were starting to erupt, and Corinthus hadn't even entered range of his own weapons yet. Three Dreadnoughts gone, the enemy still in orbit, and they weren't even able to fire back yet. Corinthus knew they had to close distance, and that they had to do so fast before those Dreadnoughts picked them off from a distance, so he did the only thing he could. He ordered the fleet to jump to FTL.

The Turian fleet decelerated from FTL speeds at different distances. The Frigates dropped out within range of their main weapons, the Cruisers at the edge of theirs, and the two remaining Dreadnoughts continued on at sub-light speeds to close the distance as they couldn't risk ramming their own ships when they dropped out of FTL. This left their fleet engaging the Alliance's own without Dreadnought support, but it also meant that the Alliance Dreadnoughts no longer had the freedom to pick them off before they could even engage them.

Even with the losses sustained during the initial charge, the Turian fleet still outnumbered the Alliance fleet by nearly double the number of everything except Dreadnoughts. That, however, wasn't exactly working in their favor as much as Corinthus had thought it would. Even with the Dreadnoughts being swarmed by Cruisers and Frigates alike, Corinthus had to learn the hard way that only the **actions** of the video broadcasted to Palaven High Command had been faked. The full **capabilities** of the Alliance Dreadnoughts, however, had not been exaggerated in even the slightest of sense of the word.

"What the hell was that!?" Corinthus shouted in a panic as beams of greenish-blue light lanced out from the largest of the Dreadnoughts and cut anything they touched in half.

"Particle beam cannons," Corinthus' Executive Officer, Colonel Tobestik, said with a tone of awe mixed with fear. "We found mention of them in a Prothean data disk the Salarians found, but we never had the means of generating the amount of power required to use them. Sir," Tobestik said, his tone now filled with fear and no longer had an edge of awe to it, "even our ground-based particle cannons using generators the size of entire city blocks couldn't fire a beam more lethal than a GARDIAN array, that's why we abandoned the line of research. If they can not only **use** particle beam cannons but also use them on ships…"

"Their power generation capabilities have to be off the damned charts," Corinthus finished for him. "_Ekko_ Actual to Turian forces, fall back now!" Corinthus ordered as the last two Dreadnoughts in his fleet proceeded to pound the largest of the Alliance Dreadnoughts with their weapons.

Even with their barriers stressed by the repeated bombardment the Turian Dreadnoughts were throwing out, the Alliance Dreadnought still had enough energy left over to power their kinetic weapons and their thrice-blasted particle beam cannons.

"Sir, our forces are pinned down," the navigator reported. "They can't just break combat and run without the bulk of our forces being destroyed in the process. At this point we actually stand more of a chance putting their fleet between us and those Dreadnoughts than we do if we just up and turned tail and ran."

"I'm sorry, General, but he's right," Tobestik agreed after reviewing the data.

"Spirits damn you!" Corinthus cursed into the air, his anger clearly directed at the man who had ordered this assault.

"Sir, we're picking up multiple contacts arriving in the system," the navigator said as he looked over his terminal with a trained eye. "It looks like a Quarian mining fleet."

"Damn it! Tell them to get the hell out of…" Corinthus began before the comms officer cut him off.

"Sir, they're broadcasting a message on all known frequencies."

"Patch it through," Corinthus ordered.

"McKay_ Actual to _Everest_ Actual, the ships entering the system are Quarian refugees and survivors of the Batarian slaver raid. Grant them safe passage through to guarded territory with your authorization to keep First Fleet from firing on them. They'll need somewhere to lay low and conduct repairs before we send them back out there. End prerecorded authorization message."_

"Did he just say they saved Quarians from a Batarian slaver fleet?" Tobestik asked in shock.

"Another message coming through," the comms officer reported.

"_Thanks for the assist,"_ a clearly Quarian voice said as the small Quarian fleet flew along the edge of the system headed for the Relay that led back towards Alliance Territory. _"We'll… Keelah,"_ the Captain of the Quarian ship said as their sensors finally picked up the situation in orbit of Galen.

Another particle beam cannon cut through yet another of Corinthus' few remaining Cruisers before the Alliance Admiral replied. _"Copy that, Captain. Proceed to the Relay and send First Fleet the following message the moment you arrive in system. They'll send a few engineers your way to help with any repairs."_

"Call off the assault," Corinthus ordered as he stepped up to the holo-projector that would send his avatar across space to the Alliance Dreadnought leading the occupation of Galen. "Open a channel," he added to the comms officer. As the Quarian fleet jumped through the Relay back towards Shanxi, though a there was still one system between them and official Alliance Territory, Corinthus' request for an audience was granted. The face of a Human he had never seen before appeared on his screen as the Alliance answered his call. "Admiral, I've ordered my forces to fall back. If you allow them to disengage without further bloodshed, I will personally surrender myself to you to answer for any crimes you feel necessary. I ask only that you let my people live in return."

The red-furred Human glanced at Corinthus with a look of humor in his blue eyes. He sized up the General before replying. _"If that's the deal you wish to make, then so be it."_ The Human turned to someone off-screen, most likely his XO, before saying, _"Order the fleet to stand down and allow the Turians to retreat. If any of their ships continue fighting, they all die."_ Turning back to Corinthus, the Human added, _"The _McKay_ and _Newton_ just arrived back in system. You've lost this fight. Be sure that your men understand the consequences of continued hostilities. You have two minutes to pull out, and five minutes to shuttle over to my ship. If you're not here on time, we destroy what's left of your fleet."_

"You have my word," Corinthus replied.

"_The same 'word' that you gave me when this all began and you said that you wouldn't cross the line?"_ the Human countered. _"Your word isn't worth anything to me anymore."_

"Understandable," Corinthus said with a nod. "I'll be there shortly."

"You can't be serious!" the navigator protested as the line was closed. "They'll kill you on arrival."

"That's a price I'm willing to pay if it means the rest of you make it out of this alive," Corinthus replied as he turned to face Colonel Tobestik. "I stand relieved of duty."

"You stand relieved, aye sir," Tobestik replied in a tone filled mostly with shock. "Good luck, Edam"

"Just make sure these people make it out alive," General Edam Corinthus replied as he left the CIC on his way to the shuttle bay.

***Cluster Name: Unknown (System Name: Unknown)***

**Relay 314 (Orbit)**

*_SSV Shasta_ (CIC)*

The arrival of the Quarian fleet immediately had First Fleet on high alert. Their barriers were raised, their weapons armed, their engines primed, and an intercept course was already plotted. The message that played over their speakers identifying them as survivors of a slaver raid and the authorization from Admiral Green immediately had them standing down. After all, First Fleet was the Admiral's 'home fleet.' Second Fleet was just borrowing him for the duration of the offensive against the Turians.

"_Shasta_ Actual to _Yaska_ Actual, your presence in system has been authorized, and we are standing down. While you're in this system, you'll keep your weapons offline. You're free to keep your barriers up, but weapons won't be permitted unless otherwise specified," Rear Admiral Tyrone ordered.

"_Understood, _Shasta _Actual. Our weapons are damaged anyway, so it's not a problem,"_ the Quarian Captain replied.

"I've been authorized to send you engineers to help repair your ships. If you want them, just let us know," Tyrone said.

"_We appreciate the offer, Admiral. Life-support if failing on three of our civilian ships. If you could help us with that, I'd greatly appreciate it."_

"We have a ship on the other side of the Relay capable of carrying a large number of people. We'll have them stop by and relieve your ships long enough for life-support to be re-established. Are there any materials you'll be needing?"

"_Life-support's down because the filters were overloaded with carbon buildup. If you have any Lime we could use to scrub them, we'd greatly appreciate the assist."_

"We'll have the Ark Ship bring some of our surplus. Expect the delivery in an hour at the most."

"_Thank you again, Admiral. For saving our asses, the help… everything really."_

***Morte Nebula (Guerra System)***

**Shanxi (Surface)**

*Shanxi High Command (Holding Cells)*

"Your wound's not getting infected, so you should be fine," the Doctor said as he rewrapped the stump of the severed horn on the Salarian's head.

"Relieving news," the Salarian replied in a slightly excited tone.

"You really shouldn't have landed on the planet," the Doctor continued with a shake of his head. "If the Turians do anything rash, the Alliance will be that much more inclined to bombard the planet."

"Planetary bombardment likely outcome?" Mordin asked.

"Of course it is!" the Doctor replied in a tone of disgust. "The Turians slaughtered thousands of people on Shanxi and the Alliance's population is small enough as it is. Only a few million people survived the destruction of Earth and the Turians were the first people to be responsible for death in mass since we colonized our worlds."

"Retribution against Volus population not fair. Had nothing to do with assault. Should attack a Turian colony."

"We attacked what we found and stopped where we did because we have no desire for open war. Humanity has had to overcome a lot of things in our struggle to survive. Our hatred for each other was one of the things we were sure to leave behind on Earth. That alone means that humanity will stand united against any threat to us, be it large or small. After what the Turians did, there's going to be a massive number of new recruits looking to do their part in the fight for survival. The Turians don't know what they've gotten themselves into. We've been preparing for a war with the Protheans since we found the Archives. The Turians are weaker than the Protheans and that only makes them easier to kill with fewer ships."

"But war is not desired?"

"We're not as violent natured as we used to be. We learned to repress those urges when we were faced with our own extinction. If the Turians keep pushing us, they're going to find out the hard way that humanity can be far more of a threat than the Krogan ever were. Even with a small population, we'll fight to the last to keep our freedom."

"Why tell me this?"

"Because, when you're returned to your people, you can tell them that we don't want a war."

"Then you have intention of releasing us?"

"We have no reason to keep you, and returning you helps prove to the Salarian Union that we're not unreasonable," to Doctor replied as he finished wrapping Mordin's head.

"Thank you, Doctor."

"I'm just following orders," the Doctor said before turning to leave the room. He reached the door before Mordin spoke again.

"All of us were," Mordin said in a solemn tone. "Orders from above often the cause of war. Little man never has a say in the matter. Not enough power behind voice. Even united little min is still little. However, will do my best to make sure Union sees humanity as reasonable, as you say."

"Have a good day, Professor," the Doctor said before the door slammed shut behind him.

As the Doctor exited the cell, the Commanding Officer assigned to Shanxi High Command after General Williams was recalled for his in-depth debriefing stopped him in the hall. "Do you believe him?" the General asked.

"I have no reason not to," the Doctor replied. "He's an alien, yes, but this one is very intelligent, even by his own species' standards. A little more manipulation and we should have a voice in the Salarian Union speaking only good things about humanity. At the very least it helps keep some of the Dalatrass' advisors firmly against infiltration of Alliance Territory. At worse, it gets the Professor locked up or killed. Either way, less of a threat of harm to humanity."

"Good," the General said with a nod. "Keep up the pressure with this one, and we'll keep it up with the rest. How are the injured specialists doing?"

"Sergeant Stewart's arm was shattered. We had to amputate the limb, but the damage wasn't bad enough that we couldn't attach a cloned limb in its place. When he wakes up he'll need a few weeks in physical rehabilitation, but he'll have full use of his arm and won't ever know he lost it. As far as he'll be concerned he just had the bones pieced back together."

"We're not telling him that he lost him arm?" the General asked skeptically.

"No, sir, I miscommunicated that. As far as his subconscious mind is concerned the limb was just fixed. Of course the Sergeant will be told that his arm was amputated. It would be unethical not to tell him."

"What about the Adept?"

"Sergeant Tess' wounds were also largely superficial. The medi-gel was enough to keep her from bleeding out from the gunshot wounds, and the stab wound was sealed by the heat of the blade used to make it. While she was undoubtedly in a lot of pain, she was never at risk of outright dying. Simply removing the bullets and patching up the holes was all it took to get her back on her feet. She'll be ready for combat again in a few days based off of my medical opinion. However, if her personality is anything to judge her by, she'll be up and training again in a few hours even against my recommendation."

"Huh," the General chuckled. "Either way, that's excellent news. I'd hate to have to report that the first deployment of an N6 team in the field of combat ended in fatalities. Keep up the good work, Doctor," the General said before walking away.

***Serpent Nebula (Widow System)***

**Citadel (Surface)**

*Presidium Tower (Private Council Chambers) [two hours later]*

"General Corinthus surrendered himself to the enemy?" Sparatus asked in total disbelief.

"_Starting out we outnumbered their fleet by nearly three times. In the initial charge, they took out three of our Dreadnoughts before we even had a chance to enter weapons rage. By the time we made the FTL jump we had already lost a third of our forces. When we made an FTL jump to close distance and engage on even footing, we still outnumbered them two-to-one and we were getting our asses handed to us on a silver platter. Their largest Dreadnought class is equipped with particle beam cannons for Spirit's sake! They were cutting Cruisers in half with every hit and their barriers were still holding up to an onslaught that would've crippled the _Ascension!

"_Now they have our General, the fleet has been decimated, we've lost nearly half of our forces already, and, just to top it all off, not only did we __**not**__ destroy any of their ships, but I can say with certainty that, on the few ships we actually managed to drop the barriers of only, we only inflicted minor damages at best! I want the asshole who ordered this assault delivered to me to be handed over to the humans and I want it done __**before**__ they execute Corinthus in his place!"_ Colonel Tobestik shouted in a mixture of rage and fear.

"The situation is worst than I thought," Tevos mused, a hand rubbing her chin. "If anything, this confirms our suspicions that Palaven High Command has been corrupted. What's the status of Galen?"

"_The planet is undergoing massive upheaval along its tectonic plates. They didn't hit the planet with their stronger round, but that was only because they wanted to use it on the Dreadnoughts. Not only are high intensity surface-quakes tearing apart the planet, but the dormant volcanic chains have been reactivated in the upheaval of the planet's underlying layers. The entire capital city was obliterated in the first impact as well. Nothing could've survived a hit like that. Even the underground bunkers would've been torn apart by the shockwaves that are tearing the surface to shreds. Combine that with dust thrown into the air by the impact and the volcanic eruptions and we're looking at the total loss of life across the entire planet if we don't get them out of there soon._

"_I don't know who ordered, this Councilors, the man wasn't known to me, but he had the clearance of an Admiral. Millions of people are dying as a direct result of this man's orders and the Systems Alliance has no intentions of allowing us the opportunity to evacuate the survivors in their current state of mind. They feel we betrayed their hospitality and they're right. The Alliance fleet is just sitting there watching this all happen and I can't even blame them for it!"_ Colonel Tobestik nearly shouted, his tone betraying how close to tears of rage and anger mixed with actual sadness at the deaths of so many innocent civilians he was. _"The military ships that they forced down during the initial occupation were shot down the moment they tried to leave the planet. Whoever they were trying to evac died with them."_

"And you questioned their willingness to pull the trigger," Velarn said.

"Clearly we have underestimated these Humans," Sparatus agreed.

"No," Tevos countered angrily, "**you** underestimated them. I **told** you that this was a bad idea and I **told** you that Palaven High Command was compromised. Now we're one more stupid decision away from total war with a **very** powerful species. Now would be the time to try and appease them as much as possible. Give them the commanding officers of the Shanxi fleet and maybe, just **maybe**, we can salvage this before war brakes out."

"_These people… they sent a portion of their own occupation force to save a small Quarian mining fleet from Batarian slavers. They had nothing to gain, but they saved them from the Batarians and even took them back to the system where Relay 314 is to help them repair their failing life-support systems, again with nothing to gain. They're not… we…_" Tobestik said, fumbling over the words as he didn't know which ones to use.

"_We don't know anything about these people, but I can tell you right now that they're not the bad guys we thought they were. Councilors, we need to fix this before these people destroy us all. At this point what remains of the fleet can't even hold off the Humans. If they try to push into Citadel Space, the best we can do is slow them down for a few seconds, a full minute if the Spirits decide to smile on us. You need to reinforce the far side of this Relay pair with nothing short of joint Dreadnought fleet and a hundred other ships, send us the people they want, then open negotiations and fix this mess before things get worse!"_

"A very accurate summation of things that need to be done," Tevos agreed.

"We have the Commanding Officers of the Shanxi fleet ready to be handed over. Let's see if we can trade them for rights to evacuate Galen. If these people really aren't mindless brutes, maybe we can save a few of the civilians in exchange for what they want," Sparatus added.

"We need to act fast then," Velarn said. "The quicker we hand over the criminals, the more civilians we can save… if they so allow us to do so."

***Cluster Name: Unknown (System Name: Unknown)***

**Relay 314 (Orbit)**

*_Yaska_ (CIC) [one day later]*

"_Alright, I think that'll do it,"_ Elisabeth, the Human down on the engineering deck, reported. _"Go ahead and bring the system back online nice and slow. Let's start at ten-percent and go up from there."_

"Copy that, Liz. Attempting power up now," Kal'Reeger replied. How the marine ended up working on the repair crew was simple. He knew how to use Quarian systems, as all Quarians did, and they needed the extra help.

"_Alright, it looks like the power's flowing just fine. Go ahead and increase power to twenty-percent."_

After pressing a few buttons, Kal said, "Done."

"_Alright, let's go up to forty-percent."_ More buttons were pressed then the Human female added, _"Take it up to sixty, then eighty after two seconds."_

"You got it," Kal replied.

"_Okay, it looks like everything's in working order. Go ahead and bring the system up to full power."_

"Alright," Kal said as he typed in a few buttons then read over the screen. "I'm reading a twenty-percent increase to weapons capabilities… did you mean to do that?"

"_We're sending you back to the Quarian Flotilla on your own with only three warships left intact and nearly twenty civilian ships to protect. I'm just making sure you make it back in one piece, and besides, even a twenty-percent increase to firepower doesn't give you the strength of a Cruiser. No offense, Kal, but you're not really a threat to us with only three ships no matter how much we upgrade them,"_ Liz replied with a chuckle.

"Huh," Kal scuffed in agreement. "With Dreadnoughts like those monsters, no wonder the Council's trying to subjugate you."

"_Oh, they're free to try, but I doubt that they'll get very far. Humans aren't the type to take being turned into virtual slaves to the Council, no matter how 'gentle' their rule may be, without a fight that'll either win us our freedom, or see every last Human dead with an even greater number of Council losses."_

"I think I might just be starting to like your species," Kal said jokingly.

"_If you like us so much, put in a good word for us with your Conclave when you get back to the Flotilla. We could use some allies in this otherwise hostile galaxy. A race like the Quarians being our friendly neighbors will help quell the unsettling feeling that the galaxy seems to unanimously want us dead."_

"After giving us help like this," the Captain said as he re-entered the CIC, "I'll give them all the praise you want me to. Even if we had managed to escape the Batarians, the life-support systems on those mining ships would've failed before we made it back to the Flotilla. Thank you, Sergeant, for all of your help."

"_Hey, I'm just following orders. Thank Admiral Green for sending the _McKay_ to rescue you in the first place. Anyway, there are a few adjustments to your barriers I can make if you're willing to allow me access to the systems."_

"Go ahead," the Captain replied with a smile hidden by his environmental suit. "You know, if you want to send a ship along with us, or just send a negotiator along with our fleet, we'd be happy to introduce you to the Conclave in person."

"_Forward that offer over to Rear Admiral Tyrone so he can send it back to Terra High Command. I know there are things going on right now that we're dealing with, but they'll most likely agree to that."_

"I'll do that," the Captain assured her. "And thanks again for the help."

"_Any time, Captain. It's been a pleasure working with your people. Knowing that not all of the aliens out there are as stupid as the Citadel Council appears to be is rather refreshing."_

***Xeta Nebula (Sheeran System)***

**Galen (Lunar Orbit)**

*_Ekko_ (CIC)*

"_You've held up your end of the deal,"_ Admiral Green said in a tone that wasn't exactly cocky so much as confident. _"Go ahead and send the evacuation shuttles."_

"I'm sorry, Admiral, I truly am. Thank you for allowing this," Colonel Tobestik replied.

"_Sure, sure,"_ the Admiral said dismissively. _"Now that the first three of our demands have been met, I'm sure that Terra High Command will want to start negotiations up again soon, though we're a little busy at the moment dealing with the clean up effort for Shanxi. We'll contact you when we're ready to begin discussing the rest of the terms of the ceasefire. Admiral Green out."_

The line was then cut and Tobestik nearly had a heart attack when the Alliance fleet started moving without warning. His fears, however, were quickly alleviated when the fleet headed towards the edge of the system and the Relay that resided there. The Alliance fleet jumped out, the Relay propelling the across space back towards their own territory, and Tobestik breathed a sigh of relief before remembering that General Corinthus was still with them at which point he bowed his head in prayer.

"Spirits, please keep him safe. This wasn't his fault," Tobestik said. The rest of the CIC crew also bowed their heads to make a prayer for the General's safe return. Then, once the Alliance fleet was completely gone, Tobestik said, "Start launching the shuttles now. We need to get who we can off of the surface before it's to late. Contact that Council and tell them the Alliance has surrendered the system to us and will reopen negations after they've finished evacuating the wounded on Shanxi. We're not out of the woods yet, people. We need to help these civilians and pray to the Spirits that the Alliance doesn't decide total war is worth it."

"Aye, aye, sir," the crew replied as the Turian fleet moved into orbit a Galen and started launching as many shuttles and gunships as they had available to them.

***Morte Nebula (Guerra System)***

**Shanxi's Moon (Surface)**

*Unspecified Location [seven hours later]*

"_Here's how this works,"_ the holographic projection of General Williams standing before the assembled Turians said. _"You will meet your end the same way that the civilians on Shanxi met theirs. In other words, you have the next three seconds to start running before we dropped a shell on a location of our choosing. If you survive the blast, congratulations you've survived the first round of three. Anyone left alive after the third round will be allowed to return to the Council with no strings attached. Good luck."_

"He can't be serious!" one of the Turian commanders said in disbelief.

"I'm not sticking around to find out!" another exclaimed before running off in any random direction.

"What's the point in running?" another of ten asked to no one in particular as he just sat in the dirt. They were all wearing environmentally sealed suits since the moon of Shanxi didn't have a breathable atmosphere.

"What do you mean?" the first asked.

"The whole point of this is to kill us off the same way we murdered their people," the man replied with a sigh. "They're not going to let us survive one orbital round, let alone three. That wouldn't give them any sense revenge for what we did."

"That's not entirely true," another said. "If we all split up, only three of us will die, right? If we're not all together in one place, we can't all die at once. Then only three of us…" the Turian was cut off when a round impacted the ground only two feet from their location. All ten of the Turians declared guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity met their end as the first, and only, round fired from the Frigate in orbit killed them all in one go.

***Local Cluster (Sol System)***

**Mars (Surface)**

*Prothean Bunker (Archives Chamber) [three days later]*

"_It took you long enough,"_ Sam snapped the moment that Nick and his entourage walked into the Archives room. This was, due to security reasons, the first time that many of those present had even seen the source of their salvation. For those who hadn't seen it yet, the Archives were a sight to behold. The Archives were massive. The total sum of knowledge for an entire galactic empire. It was impressive, to say the least, but Sam didn't have time to waste with their gawking. _"We have work to do, incase you've forgotten,"_ Sam said when no one replied to her earlier statement.

"Right," Nick said as he approached the holographic avatar of the woman.

"Why is it so cold in here?" General Williams asked. After those most directly responsible for his defeat at Shanxi had met their end in the method of his choosing, the General had finally found his voice again.

"The place was depressurized after the Mars Expedition left. There's been no heat or air in here for the past seven years," Admiral Hackett replied.

"_Yes, yes, I'm sure you're all very uncomfortable, but you won't be here for long. You need to pull my hard drive out of the system so that I can be taken to Earth to open the vaults,"_ Sam urged.

"Alright," Nick said. "The Ark Ships are already taking up orbit of Earth and readying the shuttles. Gabriella, go ahead and download the rest of the Prothean Codex while you're at it. We only took the relevant technology Codices when we left the first time. Might as well start going over their civilian-sector technology now that we have the time."

"Sure thing," Gabriella replied as she moved over to the terminal and started the download. "It looks like… 'Sam's' hard drive is in a sub-lab a few levels down."

"I'll go get it," Ryan said as he and Jack moved towards the nearest door.

"I'll send a nav-point to your Omni-tools," Gabriella called after them.

"You said that there were four vaults set aside for things other than the Human population. Care to elaborate?" Admiral Hackett asked.

"_Certainly,"_ Sam replied. _"The Historical Vault contains a complete record of everything we know about the history of Earth, humanity, and everything else you can possibly imagine. There are trillions of terabytes of information stored in that vault including, but not limited to, every song ever made be it a record, an eight track, a cassette tape, a CD, an mp3 or an mp4. It is essentially the largest collection of pirated music in the history of the world. There's also every historical textbook ever published along with digital and physical copies of every book that people were either willing to donate, or that the Mars Expedition managed to steal. Add to that all of the research ever done on Earth and, like I said, you have the full history of the Human race."_

"Why the hell didn't McKay think of that?" Williams asked.

"Don't ask her," Nick replied. "She'll just start bashing his reputation."

"And for good reasons," Gabriella countered.

"You too now?" Nick asked.

"She's the only reason I was added to the Mars Expedition, Nick. Without her, I'd be dead," Gabriella replied.

"_And it was the right call, if I do say so myself,"_ Sam said smugly.

"What else did you keep?" Hackett asked to cut off the argument.

"_A full record of every piece of technology ever developed by humanity. The Technology Vault also has either a schematic, be it digital or physical in nature, or a working model of everything Humans have ever built. There are designs to cars, but keeping those in the vault was a waste of space so we didn't actually save any, but schematics for planes and everything else, even if they are obsolete now, are stored in the Technology Vault. I also developed a Codex for the Human race of the Earth Age that details and organizes all of this information into an understandable and easily accessed format. This is also stored in the Technology Vault, though it was also given to each of the other vaults so they had materials to use in teaching their children._

"_One vault was also set aside to store either the DNA for use in cloning, or a living specimen of every, and I do mean __**every**__, species ever to live on Earth including dinosaurs and all forms of bacteria and viruses. The thought there was that, should AIDs still be a problem or should it suddenly reform in the Human population, we would still have samples of the original to study in an attempt to find a cure. You will also find that we managed to find a cure to such diseases as HIV and improved treatment options for cancer and several other major illnesses. This is the Zoological Vault as you will also find DNA samples of such animals as lions and tigers and bears, oh my!"_

The VI's joke earned a small laugh from the assembled officials before the explanation was continued. _"The last vault set aside not for Human life is a massive Agricultural Vault filled to the brim with every type of planet that's ever grown on Earth. Be it a crop, a weed, a drug, medicinal in value, or just plain-ol' grass, every variant of it known to man has been preserved in samples that were placed in mass cyro-stasis to keep it form spoiling or rotting."_

"So we're not just evacuating people from Earth…" General Williams began.

"_You're collecting everything meaningful that was left behind in the rush to escape the destruction of Earth,"_ Sam finished for him.

"This is incredible!" Nick exclaimed.

"_Still think McKay's plan was better than mine?"_ Sam asked with a smug look on her holographic face.

"No offense to you, Sam, but I defiantly don't see your plan working without his. Both of you working together would've been so much better than the two of you working on separate projects," Nick replied.

"_Yes, but McKay didn't want to hear that we could save Earth. He only cared about saving humanity. Sure, in the end he was right, but I still say that the plan to just leave Earth and not come back was a bad one."_

"We can all agree there…" Nick began before Gabriella let out a sob that cut him off. "Are you okay?" he asked in a concerned tone.

"My mom used to sing this to me when I was just a little kid," Gabriella replied as she pressed a button on her Omni-tool. A La Nanita Nana, an old Spanish lullaby, started playing and Gabriella wiped a tear from her eye. "Sorry, it just kinda hit me," she said as she turned back to her consul.

"Hey," Nick said as he pulled her away from the terminal and gave her a hug. "It's understandable. We all lost a lot of loved ones when Rascal decided he wanted more power."

"I miss her," Gabriella said, her voice strained as she tried to hold back her tears.

"We never did really get the chance to properly mourn our dead," Nick said as he just stood there, holding Gabriella who was openly weeping at this point. "When we left Earth, things just kicked off and we didn't have the time. Preparations for the Protheans and rebuilding our society took precedence over everything else. When we get back home and settle everyone in on a new world, we'll have a day of silence to honor the dead that were lost on Earth and Shanxi followed by a week of cheers to celebrate the living and the reunion of the vault population with the Alliance. How does that sound?"

"Like it's long overdue," Admiral Hackett replied solemnly.

***Mindoinese Nebula (Arcian System)***

**Mindoir (Surface)**

*Konstante (Spaceport) [two weeks later]*

"Jonny!" Kasumi Goto shouted as she ran over and embraced the young biotic.

"God, Kasumi, I can't breathe!" Jonathan Shepard, Alliance-trained Vanguard and potential N4 recruit, said.

"I haven't seen you in ten months, you can go without air for ten seconds," Kasumi replied as she continued to squeeze the life out of the young man of sixteen who was only a few months out from seventeen. "Amy's gonna be so happy to see…" Kasumi trailed off before squealing, "Raven!" in Shepard's ear and running off to embrace the other biotic returning from training for their three month vacation.

"Oh god," Raven gasped as she tried to breath through the pressure being exerted on her body. "Kasumi, you're killing me!"

"Whoa, lay off, Kasumi," John said as he pried the two women apart. "Raven's still recovering from her attempt to master a full-body Shockwave."

"Oh my god, are you okay?" Kasumi asked.

"I managed to nearly blow my own limbs off," Raven replied. "I'm a little sore."

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!"

"It's okay, Kasumi," Raven assured her. "Let's just stop blocking the exit area."

"Right," Kasumi said with a small laugh. "Amy's really going to freak when she sees y'all."

"My sister freaks every time she sees me, Kasumi. I'm used to it by now," John replied dismissively. "How's Sammy doing?"

"Doctor McKay's kid?" Kasumi asked to which John nodded. "He's settled in with your parents well enough and he's really smart. He does better than I do in school and I hate him for it."

"He's nine…" Raven said. "You're in high school."

"Yeah, so is he," Kasumi said with an obvious air of 'I can't believe this.'

"A nine-year-old is in high school?!" John asked disbelievingly.

"Just look at who his father was," Kasumi replied.

"Sure, he might be smart enough for it, but what about the emotional maturity? He must get picked on a lot," Raven said.

"You're kidding right? The kid's practically royalty. His father saved the Human race, you never live up to that," Kasumi countered. "So how's school for y'all?"

"Brutal," John replied.

"School?" Raven asked at the same time. "It's biotic boot camp which is boot camp specifically designed for biotics. I agree with John on this one."

"So how are y'all doing?" Kasumi asked again.

"Yes, how are the two of you doing?" a voice asked from behind them.

When the trio turned around, Raven and John both immediately dropped their bags, came to attention, and snapped off a crisp salute. "General," Raven and John said at nearly the same time.

"At ease, kids," General Steven Shepard said as he returned the salute. "So, how have you been?" he asked as the two teenagers picked up their packs.

"Good, all things considered," John replied as he crossed the distance between them and embraced his father. "How's the promotion going?"

"Being in charge of Mindoir High Command is draining, especially with the Turian assault on Shanxi. They've tripled the number of patrols in the area and divided up the military personnel in the vaults worthy of the title as evenly as they could. Two-hundred-thousand of them were shipped to Reach to finish training in advanced weapons and armor while the rest were sent to the colonies. That's an additional thousand-or-so soldiers for each colony. I think the total number of people under my command is nearly two-thousand right now."

"That's a lot of responsibility," Kasumi commented. "It also explains all the guys walking around with guns. I guess they're getting settled in?"

"Thirteen major cities across Mindoir, each with around a-hundred-fifty new soldiers coming in. That's a huge relief seeing as how the planet used to only be defended by a-thousand trained soldiers. The troops themselves are settling into the chain of command very well, but they're soldiers so that's to be expected. I hear their families are adjusting to colonial life more slowly, but Mindoir being a farming world means that the weather's great so… we'll see how it goes. What about you guys? How's school going Kasumi?"

"She's being outdone by a nine-year-old," Raven jested.

"Sammy's a good kid, a bit quiet, but a good kid," Steven said. "And you two? How's Biotic Acclamation and Temperance going?"

"You mean boot camp?" John asked.

"It is not boot camp," Steven replied forcefully as they finally reached the General's aircar which was really a shuttle since a General, according to Terra High Command, wouldn't be safe in an aircar given current developments.

"You could've fooled me," Raven said.

"You're sixteen," Steven insisted as they took off and turned towards the capital city of Konstante where they all lived. "You can't enlist in the Alliance until you're eighteen."

"Then how am I already an N4?" John asked.

"Look," Steven replied. "You're not military, not yet. Your 'rank' is just a formality to see where you place in the grand scheme of things."

"No," Raven countered. "That's what the TCS is for, and when did you make N4?"

"What's the TCS?" Kasumi asked.

"The Tier Classification System," John replied before answering Raven's question in a boasting tone. "I made N4 the day after I proved myself to be on level with a Tier Three Alliance Vanguard. Not only does that make me an entire tier above the rest of my class," he continued as Raven glared at him, "but, since I've already mastered Warp ammo, they're even considering giving me my Tier Two Vanguard classification early as well."

"Either way, you're still not an Alliance marine," General Shepard interrupted. "Admiral Hackett and President Green have made it clear that the purpose of the BAaT program is to make sure that biotics don't go around hurting people by accident. It's about learning to control your powers, not making biotic soldiers that are too young to see combat. Even if you do enlist straight out of BAaT, you won't be able to fight until you're eighteen. You won't be fighting aliens for a few years, Jonathan, get that through your head."

"You take the fun out of boot camp," John muttered to which his dad laughed in reply.

"Hannah would kill me if I let you run off and be a soldier before you were old enough," Steven said.

"Yeah, your mom can be a bit scary at times," Kasumi agreed. When John gave her a look, Kasumi said, "What? She can be a mean bitch when she wants to be. You should've seen her when Sammy's books got stolen out of his locker. The principle called the cops because he was scared of her. When the cops got there, the guy made the mistake of pissing her off and they called the military 'cause they were scared of her too and then the soldiers had to call your dad 'cause, again, they were scared of her too."

"All of this over his school books?" John asked, more than a little embarrassed.

"They were expensive books," Steven replied, his tone similarly embarrassed.

"I will **never** let him live that down," Kasumi added. "Oh, and you **have** to meet the new guy in school. Well, the only new guy worth mentioning at any rate. His name's James Vega, he grew up in one of the military vaults, his dad kept him in shape, and he's sooo hot!"

"Vega?" Steven asked. "His dad's dead, died during the war. He lives with his uncle, not his father."

"Oh… they look so much alike," Kasumi replied.

"That's because all you see are the big muscles," Steven said with a shake of his head.

"Yeah," Kasumi agreed in a distant tone. "Because there's sooo much muscle."

"You're seventeen, Kasumi. It's a bit too soon for you to be worrying about boys," Steven countered.

"Hey now, I won't be seventeen for forever and I could always be his high school sweetheart!" Kasumi said in a defensive tone to which everyone laughed.

****Alliance Naval Codex: Tier 2 Access Required****

***Primary Codex Entry***

**Starships: Power Plants**

*Deuterium/Helium-3 Fusion Reactor Core*

After the Mars Expedition successfully managed to mine He-3 in mass, Human mastery of Deuterium Fusion reactor cores was drastically increased. A second-generation approach to controlled fusion power involves combining He-3 and Deuterium. This reaction produces a He-4 nucleus and a high-energy proton. As with the p-11B aneutronic fusion fuel cycle, most of the reaction energy is released as charged particles, reducing activation of the reactor housing and allowing more efficient energy harvesting. During operation, D-D (Deuterium-Deuterium) side reactions produce a significant number of neutrons, resulting in the production of an otherwise wasted byproduct.

During the Earth Age, this type of energy production was largely theoretical. During the Phoenix Age, however, this became the primary generator mass produced to power Alliance warships. The energy produced by the reaction is used for everything from generating the artificial gravity fields to powering the weapons, barriers, and life-support. The high energy proton byproducts are then channeled away from the reactor through specialized, heavily shielded conduits before being slammed into anti-protons to provide forward propulsion thus taking advantage of the D-D side reactions.

****Alliance Naval Codex: Tier 1 Access Required****

***Primary Codex Entry***

**Starships: Power Plants: Dreadnoughts and Carriers**

*Deuterium/Helium-3/Naquadah Fusion Reactor Core*

Not much is known of the mysterious element, currently unnamed, that the Protheans used to provide the staggering amounts of power needed to operate the Super Dreadnought found on Terra Renatus. What is known leaves much to conjecture though ONI scientists are convinced the metal is not native to this galaxy. The name given to it by the Protheans has no translatable equivalent, though is spelt "Naquadah" in the Prothean Galactic Codex.

"Naquadah," even in an unrefined state, has the remarkable ability to take small amounts of electrical energy and amplify the output to several magnitudes greater than the input. The metal is extremely rare and denser than gold. Only one minable pocket of Naquadah has been found by the Alliance in their time exploring the stars, and "mining" is used very loosely when referring to the site. Actually nothing more than a massive graveyard stretching out over orbit of a gas giant in the system next to Reach, the Naquadah stores retrieved from the salvage operation provided the Alliance with enough Naquadah to equip only a select few ships with the rare element.

Thus the Deuterium/Helium-3/Naquadah Fusion Reactor Core was born. With two Deuterium/Helium-3 Fusion Reactor Cores equipped on any ship bigger than a standard Frigate, what gives Alliance Dreadnoughts and Carriers the ability to fire particle beam cannons despite the drastic power requirements is that both of the Deuterium/Helium-3 Fusion Reactor Cores dump all of their power into a massive "Naquadah Bath." Due to little being known about the powerful element, Alliance engineers and ONI scientists are only capable of refining the mineral to nearly forty-percent purity. Even with Naquadah's full potential well outside of the Alliance's grasp, what is known is enough to bring to life the ultimate arbiter of warfare.

Naquadah is also one of the hardest minerals known to the Alliance as well as being one of the densest and being notoriously known, by those with the proper authorization, to be the rarest mineral in the galaxy. ONI scientists have attempted to combine the element with carbon blinded with Prothean Alloy to create a stronger armor, but the rarity of the element has the Alliance Navy hording all but a very small amount set aside for ONI's personal investigations. Currently, there is enough Naquadah in Alliance possession to field and operate three _Everest_-Class Dreadnoughts, five _Kilimanjaro_-Class Dreadnoughts, and six _McKay_-Class Carriers.

Classified Amendment 1: During exploration of the colony on the planet Feros, ONI personnel discovered another Prothean Super Dreadnought heavily damaged and currently unrecoverable, the surrounding area was quarantined under the guise of being a zone of cultural interests dedicated to studying Prothean architecture in the hopes of advancing Alliance building techniques. The five-kilometer Dreadnought, of which there is less than two-hundred-meters sticking out of the ground, although deemed unsalvageable, was studied in the hopes of discovering a means of getting the Prothean Super Dreadnought on Terra fully operational as the Terran Prothean Super Dreadnought is currently undergoing its seventh year of continuous repairs in the dry-docks over Reach.

*TIER 0 CLASSIFICATION REQUIRED FOR FURTHER ACCESS*

Classified Amendment 2:

Personal Log Entry 1

Desk Of: Admiral Steven Hackett, Systems Alliance High Command

"Plans for the _SSV Infinity_ were drawn up today. The ship's going to be massive, even by my standards and I served on the _Everest_ while it was still over Terra. The damned thing's so big we had to rip the Naquadah core out of the Feros Prothean Super Dreadnought just to give it flight capabilities. Add to that an eezo core nearly as large as a Frigate and a hull so thick it's taller than I am and we're looking at the single greatest drain on our resources since the Ark Ships were built. To compensate, we're going to melt down the hulls of the twenty-two of the Ark Ships just to give the _Infinity_ a worthy hull. The Prothean alloy will go along with the barriers in a way that's overkill in my opinion, but the Ark Ships have just been sitting there for years now."

Classified Amendment 2:

Personal Log Entry 2

Desk Of: Admiral Steven Hackett, Systems Alliance High Command

"Construction of the _Infinity_ was put on hold for the time being and just in time too. We were just about to start melting down the first Ark Ship when we received the transmission from Shanxi. That was nearly a month ago. Now we've evacuated the people from Earth, the "Vault Population" as the civvies are calling them. We'll resume work on the ship in a matter of days. I really wish we could've kept her as a ship of peaceful exploration, but the Turians changed that. The _Infinity_ will be the flagship of the Alliance Navy, my personal ship by order of the Alliance Parliament. I won't complain, but the weaponization of a ship originally built for peaceful operations is a sad event in my books. Nevertheless, I'll see to it that the _Infinity_ makes sure that we don't have to struggle through another 'phoenix effect.' I doubt humanity could survive a second attempt at our genocide."

**Author's Note**

A point of change worth mentioning: Amy Shepard is introduced in Reasons We Fear the Dark as being John Shepard's wife. In this book she's introduced as being his sister. No, John's not about to marry his sister and no he's not about to marry someone with his sister's name so there won't be two "Amy Shepards." Put simply, Jonathan Shepard isn't going to be married in Reasons We Fear the Dark because I felt that the whole "oh, and, by the way, Shepard's married" way of dropping that on your heads was just plain wrong. On that note, I've decided to build Shepard's relationship from scratch so that you can actually say "hey, I like that" as opposed to saying "wait, who the fuck is this Amy chick and why does she get to marry Shepard?"


	11. A Game of Shadows

**Author's Note**

I had a reviewer point out that medi-gel was created by Humans and wouldn't have been around four-hundred years ago when Wrex was fighting Aleena. As such, Wrex's line has been altered to say "medical equipment" as opposed to "medi-gel."Also, this chapter will be **long** mostly because I really don't want to write another multi-part chapter so soon after Shanxi and the Vault Program. Consider yourself forewarned.

Chapter 9

A Game of Shadows

***Serpent Nebula (Widow System)***

**Citadel (En Route)**

*_SSV Everest_ (CIC)*

There are a lot of Relays in the Serpent Nebula, but what made this one so important was the rapid rate at which its inner rings were spinning which was always a sign that something big was coming through. Shooting forth from this Relay at a high rate of speed, the massive form of the _SSV Everest_ decelerated back into normal space with several Heavy Cruisers and an admittedly small accompaniment of smaller support vessels flying in formation along side it. This fleet, while small compared to the former composition of the enlarged Second Fleet that conquered Galen, was still enough to immediately bring the Citadel defense fleet to high alert. When the _Everest_ had passed so far into the 'system,' it sent a signal through the Relay and the _Newton_ exited the massive FTL cannon before accelerating deeper into the nebula out of sight of the Citadel fleet's sensors and, hopefully, undetected.

"I was expecting something a little more impressive from a race of whores who live to be over a thousand years old," Admiral Green said as the _Newton_ fed them information from its far more advanced sensors suite. Even a significant distance out from their own position, the _Newton_ was perfectly capable of scanning a larger area of the nebula and with far greater accuracy thanks to her hyper-advanced sensors' suit. "The Asari equipped a ship that size with only one gun and it doesn't even have a practical design to it. Why the hell is there a massive fucking hole in the middle of their ship? What purpose could that possibly serve?"

"It's not just that one either," the navigator said with a scuff of agreement. "All of the ships giving off Asari IFFs have that hole-in-the-middle design aspect."

"_Keep your heads in the game, people. You're not there to judge them on their tech, you're there to bring this war to an end before we're forced to field the big guns,"_ Nick ordered over the open comms channel which was also being relayed through the _Newton_ since they didn't have access to the Citadel's FTL comm buoys. The 'big guns' he had referred to, of course, referred to the Alliance's secret military projects, projects that were being held in reserve incase the Protheans ever did show up or, god forbid, the Turians decided to push humanity to the brink that the Human race resorted to their old habits of nuking everything that moved. As the President spoke, the support fleet came to a halt well outside of range of the Citadel fleet's weapons while the _Everest_ continued forward. _"You're there to make peace, not judge them. Leave that part to ONI's Prowlers and Cerberus's infiltration squads."_

"And we're going so far as to deploy **both** of our black ops organizations against a single enemy… why? I thought we were here to make peace and get new allies," the navigator asked for the third time since this trip had begun.

"Because, Janus, the rewards of tolerance of the alien are treachery and betrayal," Tomy replied in a stoic tone. That was about as much as the woman had gotten out of him since they shipped off from Shanxi to reach the Citadel, though it was the first time Admiral Hackett had been present for the question.

"Don't tell me that you've bought into the Terra Firma Party's bullshit," Admiral Hackett interjected.

"_Bought into it?"_ Nick asked in a sarcastic tone. _"Who do you think organized them in the first place?"_

"You can't be serious," Hackett said disbelievingly. "And you let this happen?"

"_It's not like I'm in a position to stop him. Everyone in the Systems Alliance has every right to voice their opinions. However,"_ Nick said as he turned to his brother, _"if this affects your decisions and duties as an Officer in the Alliance Navy, I will remove you from your post fast enough to make your pretty little head spin."_

"Relax," Tomy replied with a dismissive wave of his hand. "It's just a way of keeping the aliens off guard."

"How so?" Admiral Hackett asked in a reluctant tone that indicated he knew he wouldn't like the answer.

"Give the aliens a reason to think we're capitulating and they'll think we've done just that. Civil unrest caused by the government's supposed 'bowing to the demands of others' makes the aliens think we're doing what they want us to regardless of the problems it causes for us back home. This adds a level of 'trust' generated by their subconscious minds as they think they've gained the power to make us dance like puppets on a string. Even though we're just biding our time and waiting for the right moment to break off, they'll think we're in this for the long haul," Tomy explained with a casual shrug.

"_You have a very twisted form of logic, you do realize that right?"_ Nick asked.

"You can't deny that it's a good idea," Tomy countered.

"In a twisted way, it kind of is," Admiral Hackett agreed in a tone of reluctance.

"_I must be dreaming. There's no way that you just said that Tomy, of all people, was right about a matter pertaining to politics,"_ Nick said with a shake of his head.

"We're receiving a hail from the Citadel," the comms Officer interrupted them as his screen beeped. "Patching them through now."

"_Admiral, we weren't aware that you were sending a fleet to reopen negotiations,"_ the unmistakable form of the Turian Councilor said in a tone of barely restrained anger.

"After everything your people have done to my own, all the backstabbing, the rash decisions, and blatant betrayals of trust, did you honestly expect us to send a single ship to your most heavily defended station so that you could capture it and take everything we've worked so hard to achieve?" Admiral Hackett replied in his usual tone of gruff indifference. "We're not the fools you take us to be. I suggest you accept that fact now before it gets you killed."

The blue alien next to the Turian, an Asari according to the Citadel Codex, sighed before replying with a shake of her head. _"Thoughts like that are going to keep the hostilities going…"_

"Let us not forget that there would be no hostilities to continue in the first place of your people had not attacked one of our colonies without provocation, Councilor," Doctor Weir said in a diplomatic tone while cutting the Asari off in a 'polite' way.

"_Very well then, Miss…"_ Tevos trailed off.

"Doctor Elizabeth Weir, Terran Council Representative of the colony world of Shanxi. To answer the question you're about to ask, yes, I represent the selfsame colony that you so heartlessly destroyed. I have the honor of being the Alliance Parliamentary Representative appointed by the colonists of Shanxi and was elected to be the spokesperson for the Human race in the negotiations to come by popular vote of the masses. My counterpart will be the Vice President of the Alliance Parliament, Henry Hayes."

"_Very well then, Doctor Weir, send a shuttle to the following coordinates and we'll continue this conversation in person,"_ the Turian relented.

The line was cut after the coordinates were transmitted and Nick's eyes turned to Doctor Weir. _"We all know that these negotiations are just a way to keep them off of our backs while we're still recovering. Remember what points you are and aren't supposed to relent on, make it look good, and, for the love of the gods, do __**not**__ let this end badly!"_

"Of course," Doctor Weir replied with a determined look on her face.

"_Alright then; Henry…"_ Nick began before his eyes started searching the CIC for someone that wasn't there. _"Where's the Vice President at?"_

"He's in the head," the navigator replied. "He said he'd be back in a minute or two about… half an hour ago. He might've gotten lost. This ship is rather big you know."

"True as that may be," Hackett said as he activated his Omni-tool and started tracking down the other man's transponder signal, "the bulk of the internal space is taken up by the D-H3 power plants, the Naquadah amplification core, the weapons and barrier emitters, magazines for the missiles and main guns, and living quarters. There's not that much space to get lost in since that list alone accounts for seventy-percent of the ship's internal area and the rest is filled with empty and clearly marked hallways."

"I wasn't lost, I was just avoiding the CIC," Henry Hayes, Vice President of the Systems Alliance Parliament and 'native' of the colony on Plains of Ida, said as he walked back into the room. "I find it to be an inconvenience to the crew for me to be constantly in their way."

"_I want you and Doctor Weir to take point on the political side of things. Admiral Hackett and General Williams will handle the more… aggressive side of these proceedings. I'll leave you to it; I'm told we're nearing the Quarian flotilla,"_ Nick said before the line ended.

"I don't even get how a fuck-up like that still holds his rank," one of the CIC crew sitting at a nearby terminal 'muttered' to himself.

"General Williams still has his rank, Private," Tomy spat the man's rank like it was, in and of itself, a curse he would never escape, "because he did what you would never be capable of doing. When unknown hostiles defeated the small defense force in orbit of his colony he did not roll over and let the aliens walk his streets unchallenged. General Williams and his men fought until they could do so no longer. When the number of civilian losses became greater than what the Human race as a whole could sustain, General Williams surrendered his command to save more lives than continuing the fight would've, and anyone who says differently is perverting history.

"I will not stand for smart-mouthed subordinates talking trash about a man who served in World War III with distinction and pride. When you were still a maggot in boot camp being bossed around by those infinitely your greater, the then Colonel Williams was out leading Spec Ops teams in the heart of Russian-controlled Germany. I will not have some pathetic newbie who doesn't know anything about the sacrifices of command talking bad about his superiors. The next one to so much as think such thoughts will be thrown out of the nearest airlock without any remorse. Now get off of my ship, Haliat, before I have you executed for insubordination."

"That's enough, Admiral," Hackett interrupted the other man who was faintly glowing blue as his minor biotics flared with his rage. The calm about Hackett was, however, deceptive. "We are not barbarians, nor do we live without morals and standards," Hackett said in a tone of finality. Turning to the young Private, Hackett corrected his subordinate's harsh threats.

"As an Officer in the Alliance Navy, I expect you to follow orders, not question the motivations of those who understand the situation in full. Until such a time as you're capable of realizing that you're not an all-knowing being and that your place is following those who actually know what's going on, I'm stripping you of your rank. You're to report to General Roland on Pandora by midnight Alliance Standard Time for correctional rehabilitation," Admiral Hackett ordered as he held out his hand.

Private First Class Elanos Haliat, recent graduate from the Alliance naval training facilities on Reach who was considered to be on a fast-track for success due to his skills, could only stare up at his clearly pissed off superiors before unclipping the pendants from his uniform that declared his rank and handing them to Hackett. Without so much as a look over his shoulder, Haliat walked out of the CIC of the _Everest_, his head hung low, and made his way to the brig where he would stay until being dropped off on Pandora, the Alliance's primary training ground for anything and everything ground-based.

Where Reach was home to both the highest ranking Admirals and the Alliance Naval Headquarters and training facilities, Pandora was home to both the highest ranking Generals and the Alliance Marines' Headquarters and training facilities. It was a desert world that was full of dangerous animals that the Generals in charge used to train the best and brightest soldiers the Alliance could produce. To a visitor, Pandora was a hell they could leave at any time they so chose. To a Marine in training, or, in Haliat's case, a Naval Private being sent for correctional rehabilitation, Pandora was a merciless hell from which there is no escape.

*_SSV Everest_ (Shuttle Bay) [a few minutes later]*

"Are we going to address what just happened?" Weir asked when Admiral Hackett entered the shuttle bay and joined both Hayes and Weir who were waiting with General Williams. During the earlier argument, Weir and Hayes had slipped off the CIC to avoid being caught in the crossfire. As far as Weir was concerned, it was a good thing that the man in question hadn't seen what had happened on the CIC, but she wasn't about to just let that kind of behavior stand.

"At a later time when those whom it concerns are the only ones present," Hackett replied as he entered the Kodiak shuttle and took his seat next to Williams.

"Fair enough," Weir said as she sat next to Hayes.

Once everyone was strapped down and the bulkheads had been sealed, the helmsmen of the _Everest _announced, _"Firing retro-thrusters in three… two… one… mark."_

Outside of the _Everest_, the four thrusters mounted to the front of the Dreadnought that were comparatively tiny when compared to the thrusters mounted on the rear of the ship fired as one to bring the ship's forward momentum to a stop. Once the ship had settled in space just inside of its main gun's range of the Asari-made flagship of the Citadel fleet, though still outside of the estimated range of the _Destiny Ascension_'s own main gun, an alarm claxon blared outside of the shuttle as the door to the hangar bay cracked open to reveal the swirling gasses of the Serpent Nebula in all their unfiltered glory.

The only thing that now stood between the bay's crew and a horrible death by expose to vacuum was the atmospheric retention barrier that shimmered into place before the doors had opened. As an added safety precaution, the field was always tested before the doors themselves were allowed to open. To accomplish this task, the barrier was struck by weapons fire from turrets inside the hangar that also served to defend the bay from boarding parties. Only after two minutes of various checks ranging from everything from weapons fire to higher-than-average internal pressure checks did the doors open with a soft hiss.

"If we weren't here to stop a war, this would be quite the sight to behold," Hayes said as their shuttle zipped off into the nebula with an escort of six Triton Class Interceptors and six Sabre Class fighters.

"Indeed it would," General Williams agreed, "but I fear that this 'bastion of civilization' will be anything but kind to the Human race. The Council does not strike me as the type to relinquish power to those they see as inferior. Even after proving our military strength, the display of power that was our defense of our worlds is likely to only have made them more wary of us."

"If they don't like it, then they shouldn't have killed our people," Doctor Weir replied in a surprisingly neutral tone.

****Valhalla Threshold (Micah System)*****

****Dumah (Orbit)****

*****_**SSV Red Horse**_** (CIC) [twenty minutes earlier]***

Commander Tobias Foucault, Commanding Officer of the _SSV Red Horse_, stepped into the CIC of his ship at the exact moment that they dropped out of FTL behind a moon with a massive gas giant dominating the viewport. "Status report," Tobias ordered.

"We've dropped out of FTL behind one of **fifty-one**, yeah, you heard right, natural satellites orbiting a gas giant the Quarians call 'Dumah.' The FTL core is currently cycling its energy back into the discharge batteries, weapons are loaded, ready and on standby, sub-light engines are primed and ready, escape vector has been plotted, we're running cold and the IES system is online. If they can see us, they deserve to test the strength of our barriers," Operative Chauncey, the ship's helmsmen and all-around expert on everything equipped on the ship, promptly rattled off in a professional tone. "ETA until the rest of the fleet arrives… just under twenty-five minutes."

"And the status of the comm buoy?" Tobias asked.

"Present and broadcasting. It looks like the Quarians are tapped into it already. It must be a public access terminal because there's virtually no encryption on it. My… issue there is that we're in what the Council calls the 'Terminus Systems' which is essentially the 'ghetto' from back in the Earth Age," Aelita Stones, one of ONI's brightest, and youngest, computer techs, said.

"It won't really matter once we're in their systems," Jeremy Belpois, essentially the male version of Miss Stones, said as he pushed his glasses further up his nose. Despite advances in medical technology, the young man flat refused to have his eyes fixed. He adamantly claimed that his mother didn't spend nine months growing him just so he could be unhappy with the results of her labor. "The _Red Horse_ can remain cloaked for just over a week. It's not as good as Cerberus' stealth tech that can go for nearly a month, but the Alliance has already promised to let us study the _Normandy_ before they field her so we should be able to upgrade the IES system in the near-ish future. I think the _Normandy_ is still nearly a full year out from being finished at the moment, something about running into a supply hitch when repairs to the fleet took precedence over building a new ship. Right now we have enough discharge batteries to last us what will have to be long enough. I'll get the team ready to deploy."

"Chauncey, bring the super scanner online and have the rest of the Cyberwalkers meet Miss Stones and Mister Belpois in the Factory," Tobias ordered.

"Done and done," Chauncey replied. As the duo exited the CIC, the _Red Horse_'s power consumption shot into the barely containable levels as a sensors suit nearly as advanced as the one used on the McKay Class Carriers came online. "Super scan is online; data compilation and image rendering software are constructing the visual now," Chauncey added as the holo-tank in the back of the CIC projected a detailed image of the system they were in.

"What's the status of our friends?" Tobias asked as he studied the display with a trained eye.

"Looks like the ships the Carriers saved from the Batarians weren't lying about what the Quarians are up to. They're currently in the process of strip mining a pair of eezo rich asteroids. They're mostly done with the first and just setting up shop on the second. The ships we saved are currently docked with a trio of massive ships that put the _Everest_ to shame in terms of sheer mass, but don't appear to be armed for offense. It looks like the group we've already encountered are finishing up the repairs we started for them."

"Give me more information on the big ships," Tobias requested.

"Focusing scans," Chauncey replied. A moment later he added, "It looks like they're just big ships that house a shit ton of people and have a very large hydroponics sphere spinning in the center. There are hundreds of them, but they aren't armed for anything but defending theirselves. They do have a sizeable fleet of warships, however, so that explains why they don't need weapons on the big ones."

"Alright, keep me apprised," Tobias ordered as he shoved off of the holo-tank and moved to leave the CIC.

"Going to bid the Cyberwalkers farewell?" Chauncey asked jokingly.

"Their mission is of vital importance," Tobias replied with a casual shrug.

"Just admit it, Commander. You want to see the Cyberwalkers in action."

"Can it, Operative," the Commander ordered as he left the CIC, "and keep me informed. I want to know the moment the rest of the fleet arrives."

"Will-co, Commander," Chauncey replied as he returned to his work.

*_SSV Red Horse_ (Factory Housing)*

The _SSV Red Horse_ was an Alliance ship, yes, but it was built by the Office of Naval Intelligence in their private shipyards on the planet of Onyx as opposed to being built by the Alliance Navy in the military shipyards over Reach. While that didn't mean that the _Red Horse_ was outside of the Alliance chain of command, it did mean that it was crewed by people trained using ONI's preferred methodology. This meant that the crew wasn't trained in all the things that ONI saw as 'useless' for a pilot, for example, to know. Operative Chauncey was, therefore, not trained in hand-to-hand combat like an Alliance pilot would be which meant that his head was, instead, full of information only relevant to his tasks as opposed to things that he would, hopefully, never need.

To compensate for this, ONI-trained Marines were stationed on the ship and tailored specifically for anti-boarding, counter-boarding, and pre-emptive boarding actions. Other than a difference in training methods, ONI Marines also have arguably better equipment as they're given the best and newest equipment being produced by the Office of Naval Intelligence on their 'homeworld' of Onyx. The only group of soldiers that can claim to have better equipment than an ONI Marine detachment are the Alliance N6 Specialists Squads and N7 Spec Ops teams.

That having been said, the Cyberwalkers were an entirely new breed of soldiers altogether. Because Alliance Marines still specialized in ground operations and anti-boarding actions, Alliance Naval personnel still specialized in 'sailing' ships, Alliance Air Force personnel still specialized in piloting fighters and drones, and Alliance 'Army Grunts' (any Marine classified below the rank of an N4) still served as general foot soldiers, it was, therefore, ONI's Cyberwalker Division that redefined the Human definition of cyber-warfare, and they did so by using the most advanced piece of technology ever created by ONI, one that Cerberus had tried, and failed, on multiple occasions to obtain, and that was the Factory.

How the 'Factory' got its name and how exactly it worked was unknown to anyone outside of the Cyberwalker Division and that was just the way ONI was going to keep it. The Cyberwalker Division was the single greatest secret the Office of Naval Intelligence kept. It was so heavily classified that only the higher-ups at ONI and Alliance High Command knew about it legitimately. Cerberus' knowledge of the program was gained through their private network of spy probes that they had set up to monitor the boarder territories and Onyx was a boarder world (despite not having any 'border Relays', Onyx was till at the edge of Alliance Territory and could, theoretically, be reached by conventional 'slow' FTL means), so there were several Cerberus satellites in the system although ONI HQ was heavily shielded against scanning technology and the Cerberus satellites were heavily outnumbered by the number of ONI jamming satellites that made the system itself virtually undetectable from all but the closest of distances.

So great was the secret of the Cyberwalkers that their actions were ten times more guarded than the infamous Taskforce Cerberus which was renowned for its exploration and mapping of the Relay Network, though no one outside of Cerberus and the highest ranking members of Alliance High Command knew what exactly happened when the taskforce left Alliance-controlled space.

"And all of this equipment runs the Factory?" Tobias asked.

"No, Commander, this equipment **is** the Factory," Jeremy replied as he pushed his glasses back up his nose again.

"The specifics of how it works are classified, and I'm going to have to ask you to leave now," Aelita added in a very polite tone.

"Right," Tobias said as he took one last look at the shiny metal beds covered in soft, black pads and clamping restraints that had a large number of thick wire groupings running into them. "I'll be in the CIC if you need anything."

As the Commander exited the room, Jeremy brought up is Omni-tool and sealed the door before frying the circuitry that ran it and destroying the cameras in the room as well. "Everyone get strapped in, we're pressed for time here and we're still not sure how to get past the Council's firewalls. Let's just hope they're as easy to crack as the Turian ships were."

"Whatever you say, Einstein," Odd replied in his usual, carefree tone as and the others laid in the five beds arrayed around the room.

Jeremy resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he typed away on what had to be the last physical keyboard in known existence. Once everyone was lying on their beds, metal restraints rose up to hold their wrists, arms, ankles and legs in place before small prods came up beside their heads. The small, screw-like prods then extended out until they were pressing into the temples of the five people strapped to the beds while similar probes tapped into their nervous system along their spinal column and several other major nerve clusters. There was a small electrical pop from the probes before the minds of the five Humans were linked to the supercomputer Jeremy was working at. A split second later and the neural electrical pulses that composed their individual neural signatures were copied by the probes and scanned into the computer.

***Virtual World (The Factory)***

**Sector Five (_Skid_ Bay)**

*_Skidbladnir_ (CIC)*

Having your mind essentially pulled from ones body was a sensation that these five people were used to. They were, after all, the first and, so far, only Cyberwalker team in existence. That having been said, when the five appeared inside of their 'ship,' none of them were fazed. Jeremy had, long ago, mastered the art of planting their minds directly where he wanted them… within their own supercomputer of course. The rest of the world was an entirely different matter altogether, and thus the _Skidbladnir_, or the _Skid_ for short, was created.

The ship itself had no physical properties as it was essentially just a computer program that they Cyberwalkers' minds processed to be something else entirely. Such was the life of a Cyberwalker. None of what they did made sense to anyone else, but, to them, it was a perfectly normal thing to 'walk' through a computer. Since an organic mind is so alien when compared to even the most advanced of Alliance AIs, the Cyberwalkers could enter a computer and send the data back to Jeremy and could do so far better than an AI could since their minds were effectively too powerful for an antiviral program to destroy outright, though repeated exposure to the harmful effects of cyber-warfare could cause permanent brain damage.

And thus a Cyberwalker's duty is simplified.

"_Alright guys, the link to the comm buoy's been established. You'll have a straight path to the network from there. I'm starting the launch procedure,"_ Jeremy's voice said over the _Skid_'s internal comm, his face appearing on a screen before the two women piloting the craft.

"Okay Jeremy, I'm ready," Aelita replied as she brought the engines online.

The _Skid_, as a virtual computer program, was designed to shield the minds of its users from the overwhelming amount of data that was available on the extranet. Without the 'shields' and 'armor' of the _Skid_, both of which were just advanced firewalls, any organic mind would be torn apart by the data present in the 'digital sea.' The term 'digital sea' was created by the Cyberwalkers to give voice to the feeling of being immersed in the entirety of the Human race's collective knowledge of the universe. The Council, having been in space longer, were bound to have even more data. As such, the _Skid_ essentially served as a submarine capable of traveling the data streams that connect the FTL comm buoys and, from there, the individual computers that accessed the extranet together in one massive network of free flowing data and information of all kinds on all matter of subjects.

For the Cyberwalkers, the world of computers was deciphered by an advanced network of four of the Alliance's most advanced AI archetypes. Their sole purpose was to take the data the Cyberwalkers were receiving and present it in a way that their minds could understand. As such, even as their minds were only computer programs, the Cyberwalkers were capable of 'seeing,' 'hearing,' 'smelling,' 'feeling,' and 'tasting' the things they encountered. Sector Five, for example, was a large sphere suspended by four data streams that represented the AIs that crunched the data into something they could understand. The _Skid_, as another example, was presented to them as a physical ship shaped much like an ONI Prowler, but on a far smaller scale as it only had to accommodate five people who, while cyberwalking, needed neither food nor sleep. The rest of the cyber-world was, thusly, well known to the Cyberwalkers even if people not a member of their elite group would never understand what really happened when they laid in those beds.

The _Skid_, piloted by Aelita Stones and Yumi Ishiyama, exited its docking port and approached the terminal access point. Processed by the Cyberwalkers as a massive and thick door, the terminal access point here was the point where the supercomputer known to them as the Factory connected to the galaxy at large via the extranet.

As the large, airlock-like doors sealed behind them and the second set began their opening sequence, the 'airlock' was flooded by data represented merely as a mass of flowing water. Once the _Skid_ was fully 'submerged,' the outer doors opened and the mini-Prowler powered forward as its engines increased their power output.

"Alright Jeremy, we're in the sea," Yumi reported as they approached a large, pulsating mass of lights. "We can see the flotilla from here. It looks like a small galaxy."

"_You are seeing not only their ships' computers, but also their personal computers as well. Any terminal in the local star cluster currently accessing the extranet is visible as a pinpoint of light,"_ the AIs, most commonly referred to as a single unit by the name of X.A.N.A., informed them helpfully. Why they went with X.A.N.A. for the name was simple. One of them was called Xander, one of them was called Alec, one of them was called Nancy, and the last was called Albert. Together they formed X.A.N.A. and together they were smarter than any individual AI created by the Alliance.

"Let's go ahead and filter that shall we?" Aelita said as she pressed a few buttons on her controls. An instant later and the galaxy of lights was reduced to a night view of Terra Nova as all but the ships' computers were blocked out of their 'viewing spectrum.'

"Over there," Yumi said as she pointed to a brightly glowing speck light off in the distance. "Looks like a lighthouse, and we all know what that means."

"Jeremy, we've located the FTL comm buoy. Adjusting course now," Aelita reported back to the engineer who had, for the most part, built the Factory single handedly.

"_I see it too. The encryption here may be simple, but there are hundreds of thousands of comm buoys linked to this one. We'll need to figure out which one's the Citadel before you make the jump. Dock with the comm buoy and get me a link, we'll go from there,"_ Jeremy replied.

"Will do, Jeremy," Aelita replied before another small cluster of lights appeared near the _Red Horse_.

"Looks like the fleet's arrived," Yumi mused as she and Aelita maneuvered them closer to the FTL comm buoy.

***Serpent Nebula (Widow System)***

**Citadel (Surface)**

*Presidium Tower (Council Chambers)*

Weir, Hayes, Williams and Hackett all entered the Council Chambers on the Citadel and each had different reactions. Weir, despite her inner hatred for the ones who so needlessly killed so many people dear to her, remained passively neutral with a stern look of dissatisfaction on her face. Hayes looked around with a sense of inner wonder though managed to remain calm on the outside as he took in what, in his opinion, was an overly lush paradise for the type of dirty work that needed to be preformed everyday to run an entire galaxy. Williams didn't even bother to look around. He, like Weir, found this place and what it stood for to be a farce, a shame, a cloth pulled over the eyes of the galaxy to assure the Council remained in control and remained popular while doing so, and Hackett? He was as stone-faced and unreadable as ever.

"And here's the Council Chambers," their Asari tour guide said. Her entire job had been to direct them through a single elevator and up to this point. She had, until being shutdown by Weir, tried to inform them of the history of the Citadel, but Elizabeth wasn't in the mood for the Asari's bragging tones.

"As if that needed clarification," Weir said in a level tone as she and the others approached the three figures standing at the head of the room, their backs turned on a view that most people would actually want to see as opposed to ignore, but this entire setup was just them grandstanding.

The _Destiny Ascension_ being clearly visible through the glass that separated them from space was also designed to inspire awe, but the _Everest_'s dominating bulk outclassed the Asari's attempt at psychological warfare without contest. The fierce lines of an Alliance Everest Class Dreadnought just couldn't be beat by the hole-filled, 'elegant' lines of an Asari anything. Even the Turian Dreadnought visible through the glass didn't compare to the hidden might of the _Everest_, but only the Alliance representatives knew the true power the Dreadnought held, power that hadn't been revealed yet.

"Welcome to the Citadel. I'm Councilor Tevos, Council representative of the Asari Republics, and these are my counterparts; Councilor Velarn of the Salarian union and Councilor Sparatus of the Turian Hierarchy," the blue woman said brightly.

"And I'm Doctor Elizabeth Weir," Weir said as she stepped ahead of the others and assumed control of the situation. "With me are Vice President Henry Hayes of the Systems Alliance Parliament, General Williams of Shanxi High Command and Admiral Steven Hackett of Terra Renatus High Command."

"We'll skip the rest of the bullshit that nobody honestly cares about and begin negotiations immediately," Hackett more stated then recommended. "We're ready to hear the terms of the armistice."

"An armistice?" the Salarian asked, his tone curious.

"An armistice is a situation in a war where the warring parties agree to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, but may just be a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace," Weir clarified, her tone still neutral. She knew where this was going, and she agreed that it was necessary.

"I thought we were here to negotiate a peace treaty?" Tevos asked in a stunned tone.

"Right now the Alliance is still evacuating a planet that should've been habitable for another millennia at the very least. The Turians changed that in the most violent way they possibly could, and broke your own laws in the process. The Alliance has no reason to trust that the Citadel Council won't stab us in the back the moment we give you the opportunity. I will make this clear," Hackett said as he stepped up beside Weir, "we are not here to put an end to this war just because you claim that you're sorry. We're here to sign an armistice, a temporary ceasefire that will serve as a trial run, a test of character and to see if we can get along in a civil manner. Should the Council prove itself worthy of our trust, then, and only then, will we even consider signing a true peace treaty."

"You, as a collective whole, and the Turians, as an individual species, owe the Alliance many things that cannot be repaid through readily available means, you have taken from us things that cannot be returned and you have committed atrocities neither quickly nor easily forgotten or forgiven. The lives of the military commanders most directly responsible for the bombing and mass murder of the civilian population of Shanxi may have been a semi-equal payment in blood, but you still owe us three ships; two Frigates and a Cruiser. Since you can't replace those, you will, instead, provide the raw materials required to rebuild them," General Williams added. "This payment will be made by the Turians themselves, non-negotiable."

"You will then indirectly assist in the rebuilding of Shanxi by providing the materials needed to rebuild the cities you so carelessly destroyed. This will be paid by whomever you please though know this; the damage to Shanxi's capital alone was substantial and will require several thousand metric tons of material to be made whole again. The rest of the population centers were hardly exempt from such damages and will also require a great deal of effort and materials to restore them to livable conditions," Weir said, continuing their demands.

"The last thing you owe us is the lives of the innocent people that were needlessly slaughtered by Turian military personnel. The destruction of Galen has served as an equal payment for that, but, to fully close that wound, the Council will make a public, live and **unedited** apology to the survivors of Shanxi personally, the civilians of the Alliance as a whole, the families of those who were lost in the slaughter and the families of those soldiers who died retaking our sovereign territory. You will then issue a public statement to the galaxy as a whole telling all who reside within that the destruction of Galen was your own doing and that Alliance will not be held accountable," Hayes finished them off, driving the final nail into the metaphorical coffin before the four Humans entered a tense silence though remained outwardly calm. The ball had been put into play and the Humans had, after only seconds of playing, driven it all the way into the Council's court.

**Valhalla Threshold (Micah System)***

**Kakabel (Orbit)**

*_Neema_ (Hydroponics Sphere)*

"This place is amazing," President Green said as he looked around the massive room full of gardens and farmland. "A real city drifting in the sea of stars. I must say, Quarian ingenuity is rather impressive."

"The bulk of our greatest accomplishments were a direct result of needs that we couldn't afford to let go unfulfilled," Kal'Reeger said as he showed the Human and his guards around. They were currently waiting on the Admiralty Board to finish discussing Quarian politics with the Conclave before allowing the Human to pitch his ideas to both parties.

"The same can easily be said for humanity," Nick replied in a saddened tone. "Have you been told the story of how we reached into the stars and found ourselves facing off against the Turians?"

"Liz might have mentioned a few things while she was working on the _Yaska_'s barriers, but I don't know the full story," Kal replied honestly.

"Humans have always been more inclined towards the violent side of nature and we had no one to direct that energy towards other than ourselves. It took World War III, the third war to involve most, if not all, of the divided countries of our fractured world to unite us against a common foe, but, by then, it was too late. A man named Rascal unleashed the full might of the Russian arsenal of thermal nuclear warheads and we were forced to flee as our world burned to ashes around us. So few of us made it off of Earth alive and the ones that did only managed the feat because we found a Prothean data cache on one of the other planets in our home system.

"Leaving Earth behind and colonizing the planets we now call home was traumatic for us as an entire species… what remained of the Human race grew closer to one another than most of us thought possible. We managed to survive by coming together as a race and declaring to the forces that be that we would not go so silently into the night. That event is known as the Fall of Earth, the formation of the Systems Alliance is known as the Phoenix Effect," Nick explained, his attention 'solely' focused on Kal.

"Forced into exile from your homeworld by weapons of your own creation," another Quarian said from behind him. "At least your problems stayed on Earth, ours still haunt us to this day. At ease, Reeger."

"President Green, I'd like to introduce you to Admiral Han'Gerrel vas _Neema_," Kal said as he lowered his strange, alien version of a salute and stood at parade ease.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, sir," Nick said as he held out his hand.

"You're supposed to shake it," Kal said as he demonstrated the action. "It's apparently a common Human greeting," he then added in explanation.

"A pleasure to meet you as well," Admiral Garrel said as he awkwardly duplicated Kal's demonstrated action. "Do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"Technically you just did, but I'll allow another," Nick said with a smile that was covered by his environmentally sealed helmet.

"Indeed," Admiral Garrel said in a matter-of-fact tone. "Why did your people risk their lives to save a small mining fleet from an unknown enemy?"

"The answer to that question is far longer than I think you would care to hear so I'll try to keep it short. Put simply, there was a time in Human history where slavery was allowed to flourish unopposed. Living, breathing, thinking, **sentient** beings were treated as animals, property or objects of abuse and they were treated as such legally. There were no reparations or any other form of payment for the long hours of hard, laborious work they performed. There were no breaks they were allowed without a whip being cracked against their near naked skin. What made these people so much more subjectable to this form of inhuman treatment? Something as irrelevant as the color of their skin…" Nick began.

**Valhalla Threshold (Micah System) [Cyber-World]***

**FTL Comm Buoy (Docked)**

*_Skidbladnir_ (CIC)*

"Have you tried overlaying the signals with the galactic map?" Aelita asked as she and the others waited for Jeremy to locate the FTL comm buoy closest to the Citadel.

"_Yes, but there are so many signals that the interface is having a lot of trouble pinpointing their exact location,"_ Jeremy replied.

"So go for their general location," Yumi suggested. "You just need to know the star system, not the planet."

"_Good point,"_ Jeremy said with a sigh. _"Give me a moment."_

"We'll be waiting right here, Einstein," Odd said in his every happy tone.

"Out of the CIC, Odd," Aelita said in an annoyed tone. Sometimes Odd just couldn't take a hint.

"Whatever you say, Princess," Odd Della Robbia replied before walking back into the crew compartment where Ulrich Stern and William Dunbar were waiting far more patiently.

"_I'm going to have the _Newton_ send you a tight beam message. Their onboard targeting VI should be able to hack into the nearest comm buoy without being detected long enough to send us a set of coordinates in a burst message. Give me a minute,"_ Jeremy said, unconsciously using his infamous one-liner.

"_Coordinates received,"_ X.A.N.A. said as a location marker pinged on Aelita's HUD.

"_Holy hell!"_ Jeremy exclaimed. _"There are over a hundred comm buoys in the Serpent Nebula. Any of them will do, and, now that I know where they are, I can send you to one that wasn't just hacked. You know, reduce the risk of them seeing you coming. I'm not all that excited about testing the _Skid_'s firewalls against alien antiviral software."_

"I've got the coordinates," Yumi said as Jeremy locked in on another comm buoy for them to use.

"Alright people, here we go," Aelita announced as she powered up the engines and took them closer to the comm buoy.

In the physical world, the comm buoy looked like a satellite. In the Cyber-world it looked like a massive tower that glowed a pulsating color of light-blue. The _Skid_ moved closer before opening a small rift in the tower's exterior, this was their forced path of entry through the firewalls that formed the 'armor' of the tower. Once the _Skid_ was fully in the tower, the rift was allowed to close as they approached the terminal access point that connected the data flow of this comm buoy to the galaxy-wide network of identical deep-space satellites.

"Locking in coordinates," Aelita said as the door opened.

The comm buoy, unlike the Factory's supercomputer, opened directly to a massive network of FTL comm buoys and, as such, had a swirling mass of pink energy that formed a blackhole-like vortex of data. This terminal access point would allow them nearly instantaneous access to any of the comm buoys in the entire galaxy whereas the Factory only allowed them direct access to whatever the _Red Horse_'s communications grid was linked to.

"Coordinates locked," Yumi confirmed.

"Prepare for broadband acceleration in three… two… one… mark," Aelita announced as the _Skid_ dove into the mass of pink data and was thrown through cyberspace at speeds that not even the Mass Relay Network could match.

***Serpent Nebula (Widow System) [Cyber-World]***

**FTL Comm Buoy (En Route)**

*_Skidbladnir_ (CIC)*

"Exiting hyper-acceleration tunnel in three… two… one… now," Aelita said as the _Skid_ shook around them violently. A split-second later and the _Skid_ shot out of the swirling vortex on the other end of the data stream they had just traversed and came to a shaky halt as Aelita and Yumi looked over their instruments. "Jeremy, what just happened?" Aelita asked as the power on a few of their terminals flickered and died out.

"_It was the transfer process,"_ Jeremy replied, his voice distorted and hard to understand.

"We can barely read you, Jeremy. What's going on?" Yumi added when Jeremy's voice cut out entirely.

"_Give me a minute,"_ Jeremy's voice came through, still distorted but clearer now. _"There, that ought to do it,"_ he said as his face appeared on the screen before them. _"It looks like their data transfer methods are faster than ours. The _Skid_ wasn't built to handle that type of speed. I'll reinforce the programming that composes the outer hull and have X.A.N.A. amp up the power to the inertial dampeners. For now you should be fine, but try not to need to make a hasty retreat until after we're done adjusting the _Skid_'s systems. Otherwise… you might get torn apart in the return trip and your minds will be lost in a galaxy spanning network of satellites."_

"Sounds like fun," Ulrich said sarcastically.

"_We'd never be able to recover your psyche. We'd have to upload the backup copy of your minds and we all know that that particular process isn't even near being finished yet. Even the Ancients were having trouble with that part of their immortal clones so let's be careful here people. You should be near enough the Citadel to get an accurate lock on a data terminal in the station itself. Get past their firewalls and dock with a terminal while X.A.N.A. and I get the _Skid_ ready for the return trip. Factory out,"_ Jeremy replied, obviously missing Ulrich's tone.

"Alright, here we go," Aelita said as she opened a link to the Citadel and pushed the engines.

The _Skid_, as a virtual collection of computer codes, couldn't fly in space of its own free will. It had engines, yes, but they were only to control the speed at which they traversed the data streams that connected every computer that was a part of the galactic network of FTL comm buoys. As such, their ship was essentially only capable of traveling in straight lines across pre-existing pathways. This made dodging computer viruses tricky at best and impossible when they were swarmed with antiviral software. Thankfully the Citadel's electronic countermeasures hadn't detected them yet. The _Skid_, like the _Red Horse_, was equipped with an advanced suit of stealth counter measures, though the _Skid_'s countermeasures were just computer codes as opposed to the hyper-advanced Internal Emissions Sinks system.

"_Skid_ Actual to _Newton_ Actual, come in _Newton_ Actual," Aelita said as they sailed across the data stream that connected this comm buoy to the Citadel itself.

"Newton_ Actual here, what have you got for us, Princess?"_ the _Newton_'s CO asked.

"Why does everyone insists on calling me that?" Aelita asked in an exasperated tone.

"_Operative Della Robbia told me that you preferred the name,"_ the Captain replied.

"Odd! You are so dead!" Aelita shouted to the man who was laughing hysterically in the back of the ship.

"We're in the system and approaching the Citadel now. Relay a message to the _Everest_ that we'll be making contact with the Citadel's firewalls in less than five minutes. With any luck we'll be able to get through a few lairs of security before they catch on to the fact that we're here," Yumi replied to the question that had been asked earlier.

"_Message is away. Admiral Green wishes you the best of luck and says to be careful in there; _Newton_ Actual out."_

***Serpent Nebula (Widow System)***

**Citadel (Surface)**

*Presidium Tower (Council Chambers)*

"As… reasonable as your demands are, I still can't get over the fact that you don't want peace," Tevos said, finally finding her voice after nearly ten minutes of silence.

"You misunderstand," Hayes said in a diplomatic tone. "We **do** want peace. We're just not willing to trust you at the moment."

"And for good reasons," General Williams added.

"However," Weir rebutted, "we are willing to perform an act of goodwill in the interest of earning a little faith."

"The Salarian STG team that you sent to Galen managed to put boots on the ground before their ship was destroyed by the _McKay_. The team was then apprehended by a squad of Alliance Marines and placed into the custody of the Alliance Corpsmen. Of the six that you sent, one was killed on the planet and the other five were wounded to varying degrees. They were treated for their injuries and cared for by our doctors up to this point. We're willing to return them to you in exchange for you actually taking us seriously and not seeing us as the vicious brutes you seem to be under the impression our race is," Admiral Hackett finished explaining.

"I thank you, on behalf of the Salarian Union, for your gracious offer," Velarn said with a crisp nod. "At what point will they be returned to our custody?"

"They were shuttled over with us," Williams replied. "The guards holding them are merely waiting for the order to let them go."

"We'll send a C-Sec squad down to retrieve them," Velarn confirmed with a nod.

"We're also willing to return General Corinthus to the Turian Hierarchy if they, in turn, promise to stop sending probes through the Relay Network in their quest to discover the borders to Alliance Space. There's a reason you don't know where anymore of our colonies are and we'd like to keep it that way," Weir added, her words instantly bringing a second blanket of silence down upon the Council Chambers.

**Serpent Nebula (Widow System) [Cyber-World]***

**Citadel (Terminal Access Port)**

*_Skidbladnir_ (CIC)*

"So," William asked as he looked through the viewport at the metal door before them, "what's waiting for us on the other side of that door?"

"Well," Yumi replied as Aelita continued trying to hack the door open, "the Citadel is a massive space station full of terminals and databanks. We're sure to find a lot of data here that we won't be able to understand for quite some time, but first we have to make it to a nexus point or a data hub."

"I meant in terms of what it'll look like," William corrected.

"A sea of data," Aelita replied as the door began to open. "We'll need to find a dock, a computer terminal in the physical world, and go from there. The _Skid_'s connection to X.A.N.A. should allow the AIs to pull the data we're after, but we'll have to defend the ship against any antiviral attacks the Citadel's systems send our way."

"In other words, just another normal day at work," Odd said with a smile as he readied his gear.

While it was true that there weren't any 'guns' in the cyber-world, the equipment the Cyberwalkers used was adapted to look like things they could understand. That having been said, their natural abilities in the real world translated over to similar abilities in the cyber-world. The 'guns' they carried released viral software into the computers they were invading, viruses that would corrupt and destroy antiviral probes sent their way but not disrupt the data itself. Similarly, any such abilities like biotics or tech attacks were just varied forms of viruses to increase the odds that they'd be able to disable anything sent their way despite the differences in firewalls they were sure to encounter.

The inner door to the Citadel's computers cracked opened and the _Skid_ eased its way into the dataflow. Almost immediately an alarm began to blare in the CIC. "Damn that's a lot of data!" Yumi swore as their firewalls, or 'shields,' began to buckle under the pressure of the sheer amount of data they were submerged in.

"We need to find a docking port now!" Aelita said as she punched the engines and took them into a steep 'climb.'

Since the dataflow was most often called the digital sea, the _Skid_ functioned as a submarine as opposed to a starship. As such, it would experience more pressure when deeper in the digital sea. In the real world this effectively meant that staying on the extranet would destroy them, but docking inside of a computer that stemmed the flow of data would allow them to survive.

"Terminal docking port at two-o'clock," Yumi said as she kept an eye on their firewall strength. "We've got five minutes to reach it."

"We're too far out," Aelita said as the engines pushed to their max.

"Diverting power from secondary systems," Yumi said as she tried her best to remain calm. "Damn it! It's still not enough," she swore when the power levels still projected full firewall failure in only four minutes.

"_Give me a minute, I'll divert extra power from the Factory to bolster your firewalls,"_ Jeremy's voice said. A moment later and the power levels reached a six minute failure rate and Yumi breathed a sigh of relief.

"Terminal access port dead ahead," Aelita said as the door began to open. "Apparently the bulk of their security was focused on the outer door."

"That, or we're in a public access terminal and will need to find a terminal with a higher classification clearing to get any useful data. That means going back out there," Yumi countered.

"_X.A.N.A. and I have finished the upgrades to the _Skid_. Give it a minute to take effect and I'll boot your power levels as much as I can. Just remember that any additional power from the supercomputer decreases the efficiency of the stealth programming and increases your visibility to their antiviral suits. You'll need to move as fast as possible to avoid detection,"_ Jeremy warned.

"I'm opening a transfer line to the Factory," Aelita said as a beam of light connected the _Skid_ to the tower that represented this computer. "See if you can find us a route to their core systems. Jumping from terminal to terminal is better than just blindly setting out into an ocean this big."

"_Give me a minute,"_ Jeremy replied.

***Serpent Nebula (Widow System)***

**Citadel (Surface)**

*Presidium Ring (C-Sec HQ)*

"The Humans already treated our wounds," SPECTRE agent Jondum Boa said for what felt like the fortieth time as a nurse examined the bullet holes in his chest.

"And you trust their medicine to not make you sick?" the Turian doctor asked as he walked into the room.

"Held us captive for nearly a full Sur'Kesh Prime lunar cycle. Any harm intended would've been inflicted during time captured. Medical re-examination more annoying than useful. Should be debriefing. Much to inform the Dalatrass on," Mordin Solus insisted.

"Look, I get that you're soldiers tying to do your duty, but I'm a doctor trying to do my own. Let us look you over and then you'll be on your way," the doctor replied. "Make sure to double check his head wound for infections," the doctor added, his order directed at an Asari nurse.

"Checking not necessary," Mordin said as he held his hands up defensively. "No fever. No swelling. On antibiotics already. Wound is fine. Need to speak to Commanding Officer sooner rather than later."

"What is your rush?" the doctor asked in an exasperated tone. "It'll take maybe an hour to check you over and…"

Whatever the doctor was about to say was cut off when he fell to the floor twitching as a needle was injected into his neck. The Asari nurse turned toward him and, as her back turned on Mordin, the Asari found herself succumbing to the effects of the sleeping agents that was promptly injected into her neck as well by the Salarian in question. The Turian nurse was the next to go down, her screams cut off before they could be voiced as a small dart stuck into her neck and she joined the other two on the floor in a state of unconsciousness.

"I told you that the head wound would be our downfall," 'Mordin' said as his body shimmered before being replaced by a Human in jet-black armor. In her actual voice, Lilith then added, "There wasn't any way for the hologram to fake a missing horn… thing."

"You're telling me," Brick said as his truly massive form shimmered into existence from the body of Jondum Boa. "If that nurse had checked anything other than the bullet holes, I would've been made."

"You should lose some weight then," Maya said as she appeared, her disguise having been that of the young Salarian named Maelon.

"Hey now," Brick said as he hopped down off of the medical bed, "to lose weight I'd have to loose muscle mass and that's not going to happen."

"Can we get moving now?" Salvador asked, the short man hopping to the ground from his own bed and pulling the gun from his back.

"We do have a lot of ground to cover and no idea which way we're headed," Mordecai added as he shimmered into existence by the door, his eyes scanning the area outside of the window for any signs of detection.

"Mordecai, start scouting ahead," Axton ordered.

"With pleasure," the Infiltrator replied before vanishing from sight entirely.

The personal cloaking device that hid an individual from sight and from scanners was not an Alliance-made technology. It had, rather, been stolen from the SPECTRE agent who had been captured on Galen. There was only the one device in Alliance possession right now so the Cerberus infiltration squad had to rely on their holo-shrouds to avoid detection in the densely populated station. The only other record of this device was known only to the higher ups at Cerberus and had been found on Mars when the black ops division had gone to erase all records of their actions before the fall. That device had been held by a member of the Mars Expedition by the name of Jesse Sampson, a man who had taken that device and hid it before Cerberus vented the outpost. As such, the device was lost to them and they now relied only on the Salarian version of the Prothean device.

"Brick, get a more convincing disguise, one that's inconspicuous but explains your bulk," Axton continued issuing orders as he switched out his Salarian disguise for a Batarian.

"Already done," Brick replied in a thick and deep voice as his form was replaced by that of a Krogan. "What?" he asked when Lilith gave him a look. "It fits my size and people avoid Krogan by nature."

"You're telling me," Salvador said before a hissing noise came from his small form. "At least you still look threatening."

"Oh come on," Maya said, her appearance now that of a green-skinned Asari. "Volus are kind of cute."

"Why does she get *hiss* to be an Asari?" Salvador asked.

"Because all Asari are biotics," Lilith replied, her own Asari disguise in place. "Shall we go my, and I can't believe I'm saying this, bondmate?" Lilith asked as she held out an arm for Maya to take.

"Of course, dear," Maya replied with a bright smile before the duo left the medical bay playing the role of an Asari couple.

"Krogan are loaners, but I don't want you two separating," Axton said before leaving the room a full minute after the girls had left.

Brick and Salvador shared a look before Brick shook his head and said, "Don't even think about it, maggot."

"But, if I ride on your hump, *hiss* we can move faster," Salvador insisted.

"I don't have a hump," Brick said as he shoved a hand through the nonexistent part of his 'body.' "And you're not riding piggyback you fat bastard."

"That's a little *hiss* harsh," Salvador said as he followed Brick out of the room.

"Leave me along, Volus, I'm not a taxi service," Brick replied.

"Hey now, *hiss* you owe me for putting me in the hospital."

"If you didn't go around picking fights with people ten times your size, I wouldn't have bashed your suit in."

"That's not fair! *hiss* You started that fight!"

"Annoying little pest," Brick muttered as he trudged on, the crowds parting before him as the people subconsciously made an effort to avoid an angry looking Krogan.

A few yards ahead of them, Maya and Lilith walked along, their hands clasped together as Maya leaned her head against Lilith's shoulder. "This place is noisier than I expected it to be," Maya said.

"This is your first time to the Citadel?" Lilith asked in a tone of surprise.

"Well, I just entered the Matron stage," Maya replied. "I was… busy until now."

"Oh, I'm sure you were," Lilith said with a laugh.

"_Good job, you've made it past C-Sec. Now make your way to the Wards and I'll direct you from there,"_ the voice of the technical Officer sitting safely in a seat aboard the Cerberus Stealth Frigate currently hiding somewhere in the Serpent Nebula ordered them. Commando Axton may be the highest ranking Officer in their squad, but even his orders were second to the infamous Gabriella. _"Oh, and do be smart about where you are and what you're doing and try not to let on that someone's talking to you."_

"Infernal machine!" Axton exclaimed, he himself a few feet behind the girls 'working on his Omni-tool' as he walked. "Stop telling me what I already know!"

"You're about to find out exactly how hard I can punch, maggot!" Brick said in a threatening tone, his comment 'directed' at the Volus behind him.

"I'm not an *hiss* idiot," Salvador said in reply to 'Brick's' comment.

"_Oh how clever!"_ Gabriella said in a mocking tone. _"So you can make due on your own? Then riddle me this, shit-for-brains. Why are you walking in the wrong direction?"_ When the team moved to turn around, she quickly added, _"Not all at once you fucking morons! Axton, circle back and head for the hospital; you'll be accepting a message form the ONI team before moving on to the elevators. Ladies, keep moving forward, you'll be running a secondary objective the boss man wants done. Boys, take the next rapid transit station you find, you'll be headed to the primary objective directly. Keep the animosity going and be sure to make it look good when you're forced to share a car."_

****Serpent Nebula (Widow System) [Cyber-World]*****

****Citadel (Internal Computer System)****

*****_**Skidbladnir**_** (CIC) [a few minutes earlier]***

"_Watch your back. Hostile programs inbound,"_ Jeremy informed them before the _Skid_ took a blow to her rear firewall and shook under the impact.

"Taking evasive maneuvers," Aelita said as she took them into a steep, spiraling climb. "Weapons are armed."

"Targeting," Yumi replied as she tried to lock onto the antiviral programs chasing them through the Citadel's computers. "I've got it," Yumi added before depressing a button. A hatch on the bottom of the _Skid_ opened to allow a small cluster of mines to enter the digital sea. As soon as the small five, shark-headed, eel-like representations of the programs got close enough, the mines detonated and a wave of viral programming erased a small portion of the Citadel's massive databanks. "With any luck, that data wasn't anything we needed," Yumi said as they continued forward.

"_I doubt that a computer network as powerful as the Citadel lacks enough redundancies to avoid losing any type of data no matter how irrelevant it may appear to the rest of us,"_ Jeremy replied.

"He's right, Yumi, don't sweat it," Aelita added in a comforting tone.

"Terminal access port dead ahead," Yumi said as the _Skid_ drew close to the next tower that rose up out of the digital sea.

"Initiating docking procedure," Aelita replied. A crack in the tower's armor opened and the _Skid_ slipped through before Aelita let a smile spread across her face. "Jeremy, we've found it."

"_Good, then we can stop playing hopscotch and get down to business. Give me a minute to get the port open to the right area."_

"What have we found exactly?" Ulrich asked as he started at what, to him, appeared to be a blank and insignificant circle drawn on the inner wall of this tower.

"Remember the broadband acceleration port that we hit when we first entered the FTL comm buoy?" Yumi asked to which Ulrich nodded in reply.

"We've reached a C-Sec terminal somewhere on the Wards and that," Aelita explained as she pointed to the circle, "is the message delivery system they use to inform all of their agents of developing situations which means that it's a station-wide access point. All we have to do is email ourselves to a terminal on the Presidium Ring and go from there. It'll save us **hours** of hopping from one computer to another."

"Sounds like a plan to me," William said with a sigh of relief. "I'm getting cooped up in here."

"Will the _Skid_ survive the acceleration rate?" Odd asked, serious for once in his life.

"_Don't worry, Odd, you'll be fine,"_ Jeremy replied.

"Whatever you say, Einstein. I trust you completely," Odd said, his smile back on his face.

"_Alright, I'm going to send you to a C-Sec terminal in a medical bay. I'd send you closer to your destination, but Cerberus' infiltration squad just left there so I'll be able to bounce you off of their Omni-tools to make sure your message gets opened. It'll save you the trouble of hacking your way out of the email. Give me a minute, I'm activating the access port now,"_ Jeremy informed them as the circle on the wall was filled with a swirling pink vortex. _"Okay, Aelita, you're clear."_

"Broadband acceleration in three… two… one… go." Once again the _Skid_ shot forward at a rapid rate, the ship safely tucked away inside of an empty email. When they decelerated, the Cyberwalkers had to wait a few seconds before the message, represented as a bubble around them, to dissolve before the computer they were now in was opened to them. "Thanks for the assist," Aelita said, her words projected as text on the screen as the _Skid_ moved through this new tower on their way to the next terminal access port.

The words Delete security footage scrolled across her own screen, a message from the Combat Engineer leader of Cerberus' infiltration squad. In response to this, Aelita pressed a button on her terminal and another, more powerful viral mine was left behind in the computer system as they approached the next terminal access port, the swirling pink vortex already open and waiting.

"What now?" Yumi asked.

"_The T.A.P.'s already been opened into C-Sec HQ's central control hub,"_ Jeremy replied. _"I'll remote detonate the viral package once you're clear of the affect radius. Go ahead and send me the data stored here before you leave, just to be sure."_

"I'm way ahead of you Jeremy. It's already done," Yumi replied as the small amount of data was rapidly sent back to the Factory.

"Get ready boys, things are about to get dicey," Aelita warned them as the _Skid_ shot forward and into the heavily encrypted computers in C-Sec HQ. Once again the Cyberwalkers had to wait a few seconds before the email they were hiding in opened, this time by an unsuspecting C-Sec agent, and, once it did, alarms started blaring in both the _Skid_ and C-Sec HQ itself as C-Sec HQ detected their presence as a virus and the _Skid_ detected a threat to its occupants.

"First order of business," Yumi said as she opened the hatch that would allow their minds to exit the _Skid_ and enter the Citadel's computers directly, "take out the alarms, shut down their comms systems and lock them in!"

***Serpent Nebula (Widow System)***

**Citadel (Surface)**

*Silversun Strip (Market District)*

"_C-Sec's found the nurses and doctor in the hospital. The security footage had already been deleted, but they've managed to identify you by the fact that you're the only person to have entered and exited the hospital twice. I've used the virus ONI left behind to take control of the systems. The C-Sec squad present's been dealt with and the hospital is sealed, but we'll have to find a way to explain this when we drop off the real Salarians. You do, however, need to get somewhere private and ditch the Batarian disguise since they did manage to put a bolo out on your current character before succumbing to a mildly toxic gas,"_ Gabriella ordered.

Axton ducked into a side alley before opening his Omni-tool and shifting through the aliens he had scanned while walking through the halls of the Citadel. Selecting a jellyfish-like creature he had seen preaching in an open sitting area, he allowed the new disguise to coat his body in solidified light before making his way back into the crowds. Hanar, as the race was known, weren't fast, but they were inconspicuous and he only needed to hold this new disguise until he could gain a few more yards and change into something else.

"_Maya and Lilith are further down the strip purchasing bio-amps. Join up with them."_

Entering a store that sold weapons, Axton looked around and noticed a pair of Asari arguing over which amp was best in a corner of the store. Walking over to them on the tentacles his avatar now had for legs, Axton reached the duo and interrupted their argument by saying. "This one suggests the Asari-made Serrice Council amps. This one has heard they perform commendably under strenuous use."

"See," the blue Asari said victoriously. "I know my amps."

"Oh please," the purple Asari replied with a huff. "You're going to take the word of a jellyfish that's 'heard' they perform well over the word of an Eclipse Commando?"

"Considering that the Eclipse are a fucking joke," the blue Asari that is Lilith snapped, "yes, yes I am."

"You're so…" the purple Asari that is Maya began before taking a deep breath. "I'll get the Serrice amp."

"Why not buy both?" the Turian behind the counter asked. "That way you can test them before you make your final decision. As long as you return one of them before a galactic standard week, you'll get a full refund. That is, if the amp's still in working order."

"Yes!" Maya exclaimed. "That way I can prove to you that Armax Arsenal **is** better!"

"What could Turians possibly know about biotics that the Asari don't?" Lilith asked in a serious tone.

"Buy both and I'll show you," Maya declared in a challenging tone.

"You're on!" Lilith practically growled as she turned to the store owner. "I'll take a Gemini and Savant bio-amp, and make both of them X-Class."

"With pleasure," the store clerk said before pulling a pair of boxes off of a shelf. Axton used this opportunity to duck behind another shelf before switching out his holo-shroud for a race that had two legs. "Credits first," the clerk said as he turned back to Lilith.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah just hand them over," Lilith replied as she handed the clerk a credit chit. The chit, like the visual cloaking device, had been stolen from the Salarian SPECTRE agent seeing as how he had the most money out of the Salarians the Alliance N6 Specialist Squad had captured. After scooping up both boxes, Lilith and Maya left the store, a short Volus following after them with an air of stunned infatuation about him.

"See," Maya said as they walked down Silversun Strip, "I told you that Volus are cute."

"_Stop playing around and duck into the nearest bathroom. Using the credit card of a SPECTRE that's been declared MIA just triggered an alert in the system. C-Sec is on their way and you need to ditch the Asari disguises. Change into something else and head for the rapid transit station at the end of the strip. Take the first car you find and meet up with Brick and Salvador at the main objective,"_ Gabriella snapped at them.

**Serpent Nebula (Widow System) [Cyber-World]***

**Citadel (Presidium Ring)**  
*C-Sec HQ (Terminal)*

Yumi, Ulrich, William and Odd were outside of the _Skid_ while Aelita docked the ship and opened the data transfer channel that would allow Jeremy and X.A.N.A. access to the information stored in C-Sec. While she did this, Odd stood guard of the _Skid_ with William while Yumi and Ulrich were fighting their way through the anti-viral programs that were swarming their position in an attempt to reach the specific sections of the tower that controlled the systems they needed to shut down.

Yumi was currently working her way towards the internal comms system in a bid to keep C-Sec HQ from calling for reinforcements. Her quest had taken her deeper into the heart of the tower to a glowing beacon of light that served as a sort of information 'elevator.' Riding that down to the bottom, she had fought her way through more programs than she cared to count. Rounding a last corner and immediately throwing out two balls of 'biotic' energy, Yumi skidded to a halt just in time to avoid incoming antiviral attacks. The orbs of concentrated viral malware slammed into the two, roughly Turian shaped antiviral programs which immediately fritzed out and faded into nothingness.

"_How's it going, Yumi?"_ Aelita asked.

"I'm at the door," Yumi replied as she blasted the firewall before her with a powerful virus that blew a hole in the 'door.' "I'm linking you in now," she added as she opened a link between the _Skid_ and the subsection of the tower she was in.

"_Alright, I've got control of their communication systems. X.A.N.A., send out an all-clear to the rest of the C-Sec stations, jam anymore outgoing transmissions, and make sure that any incoming transmission don't make it through to them,"_ Aelita ordered.

"_Falsification of the requested systems has been completed,"_ X.A.N.A. replied a split second later. _"Ulrich has also managed to open a link between the _Skid_ and the controls to this area. I have sealed off this sector and locked all of the doors. All personnel have been accounted for; there have been no breaches in security. Should I vent the compartment to space?"_

"_No!"_ Aelita nearly shouted. _"We don't need to kill them. We'll just leave a virus in their systems and be sure that it looks like the Geth made it."_

"_I have no record of Geth programming and cannot replicate data patterns I have never seen,"_ X.A.N.A. replied.

Yumi, on her way back to the ship, rounded another corner, the last one between her and the _Skid_, just in time to throw out a 'shockwave.' The shockwave-like viral attack washed over the rear lines of the large number of anti-viral programs assaulting the _Skid_ and brought half of the attack-force down upon herself. Redirecting extra energy to her firewall, which served as her barrier in the cyber-world, Yumi ducked back behind the corner before firing weaker viruses out of her 'pistol.'

"_I see where you're going with this, Aelita. X.A.N.A., C-Sec actually has records of Geth viruses used against the Quarians during the war. Start running an analysis of their recorded viruses and I'll handle the download,"_ Jeremy said.

"Aelita, we're getting swarmed out here!" Ulrich said as he added his own fire to the mix. Ulrich had run around the corner and slid into cover next to Yumi a second earlier.

"_Alright, I'm bringing the _Skid_'s weapons online now. Odd, William, get back in the ship. Yumi, Ulrich, make sure you're clear,"_ Aelita replied.

The moment that everyone was safely out of range of the _Skid_'s viral weapons, small capsules were dropped from the _Skid_'s bomb bays. Once deployed, the Screamer Probes started emitting a signal that drew the antiviral programs in until they had surrounded the bombs. Once a large enough number of them were clustered together, the bombs detonated and a red-black wave of energy washed over the whole area. As the digital smoke cleared, all that was left of the area the bombs had affected was broken computer codes that were struggling to restore theirselves to their original status.

Aelita brought the _Skid_ back in to dock and the door opened to allow William and Odd back out. "Form a defensive perimeter and keep the antiviral programs from reaching the _Skid_. If we lose that ship we're stuck in this computer until Jeremy can field another one to come and get us," Ulrich ordered. "William, Odd, bring out the auto-sentries."

"You got it, boss," Odd replied as he and William lifted a crate out of the _Skid_'s storage compartment.

"Where do you want them?" William asked as he pulled a large orb out of the box.

"Setup two of them by the main entrance and the other two closer to the _Skid_, but make sure they all have a clear line of sight. Yumi, get the portal firewalls ready. Get us three banks of large cover toward the rear and another two smaller banks towards the main hall. Aelita, make sure the _Skid_'s auto-turrets are online and ready. Take the _Skid_ up enough to give the guns a clear line of sight then join us down here. Jeremy, what's the status of the download?"

"_Going smoothly, but there's a lot of data here. C-Sec doesn't have everything we were looking for on the Turians, but they do have certain classified files that, after they're studied, will give us a better chance of hacking into the military databanks on Palaven,"_ Jeremy replied.

"X.A.N.A., how's the virus reconstruction coming along?"

"_Creating an inert virus to leave behind as false evidence won't be possible. I will have to leave behind a live virus. The problem there is that it risks the virus becoming sentient and transmitting any recovered data to the Geth Collective behind the Perseus Veil. Should that happen, there will be no telling how much damage the Geth could cause to Citadel Space. It is, however, the only way to cover our tracks."_

"Can you create an antivirus to the Geth virus and leave it on a remote detonation command?" Yumi asked.

"_Not without making several key changes to the Geth virus. This risks the changes being detected and our presence being inferred."_

"Can you make the changes look like a natural evolution in Geth coding?" Aelita asked as she exited the _Skid_.

"_Given the information available to me, that is not possible. I only have access to known Geth viruses, and not their predicted growth patterns."_

"_We can infer the growth patterns ourselves if we hack into the computers in the Quarian Flotilla,"_ Jeremy countered. _"Give me a minute to see what I can find."_ Nearly a full ten minutes later, Jeremy exclaimed, _"Yes! I've found it. The Quarians have an entire lab ship devoted to studying the Geth. X.A.N.A., see what you can do with the new information."_

"_Warning, hostile computer programs inbound,"_ X.A.N.A. warned them as more Turian, Salarian and Asari avatars approached them. Like the avatars suggested, the form of the holographic antiviral program denoted its creating race. They also tended to have similar abilities to their creating races so that Turian programs used brute force, the Salarian programs used overwhelming tech attacks, and the Asari programs could affect large areas with 'biotic' viral attacks.

***Serpent Nebula (Widow System)***

**Citadel (Surface)**

*Silversun Strip (Power District)*

The aircar set down with a small bump before the doors opened and the trio of Humans exited the vehicle to meet up with the two who were already present with the sixth member of their squad being some place else where his skills as a sniper would best be put to use.

"It's about time you guys showed up," Brick said as he stomped over. "This damned Volus has been annoying the hell out of me for hours now."

"Excuse me, *hiss* but, last time I checked, *hiss* it hasn't even been an hour yet," Salvador replied with his stubby little arms crossed over his fat chest.

"So cute," Maya said, her appearance now that of green Asari. "Don't you think, Lil?"

"Leave me out of this," Lilith replied, her own holo-shroud now projecting the image of a female Salarian.

Beside them, wearing the disguise of a Quarian, Axton rolled his eyes, the action reflected by the dimly glowing lights behind the translucent faceplate. "Let's just get the scans we need and get out of here. We still have to release the real Salarians back to their people and not to mention the Turian General. The negotiators can only stall the Council's demands to have Corinthus returned to them for so long and something tells me that the Turian Councilor's going to be pushing his hardest to speed that process up."

"_You're right, but you also have bigger problems. I've been using ONI's Cyberwalkers to slowly gain access to more and more systems. You've got an entire squad of C-Sec's best waiting to ambush you the moment you enter the power distribution area,"_ Gabriella informed them.

"How the hell did they track us this far?" Axton swore.

"_They didn't,"_ Gabriella replied. _"The power distribution area is under a constant lockdown to keep people from doing exactly what it is you're here to do. The Council still can't get any good readings off of the Citadel's generators so, naturally, they don't want anyone else getting ahead of them. Unfortunately you're going to have to fight your way through the blockade. I've already disabled the cameras in the area, but you'll have to jam their comms yourselves. Try to keep it as quite as possible or noise complaints will have more C-Sec squads mobilizing to your location._ _Oh, and do try to stay alive."_

"It's nice to know you care," Maya said in a tone of confusion.

"_Don't be naïve, bitch,"_ Gabriella replied. _"I need you to stay alive until you've transmitted the data back to the ship. After that, you're just as expendable as anyone else."_

The comm line went dead with an audible click before Maya turned to the others with a look on her face that said it all. "Awe, she really does care."

"Yeah, about the mission," Lilith completed the joke with a roll of her eyes. "See you ahead," she added before focusing her biotic power into a field around herself. With a shimmer of light being distorted by mass effects fields, Lilith's physical body disappeared from view as she 'Ghosted' ahead of them.

"Man I really wish I knew how to do that!" Maya complained as she readied her gun and followed the others to the door, all but Axton dropping their holo-shrouds.

Axton opened the doors and stepped through before a blindingly bright light flashed on and he raised his hand to cover his eyes. "Drop your weapons and lie on the ground!" a C-Sec Officer demanded.

"What's going on here?" Axton asked in a tone of confusion as he played the roll of the innocent Quarian he was impersonating, the other members of the team still hidden behind the door.

"Drop your weapons and get on the ground now!" the C-Sec Officer with the bullhorn shouted again.

"Okay, okay," Axton replied as he let a smile lit up the face the C-Sec Officers couldn't see, "but only because you asked so nicely."

Reaching around to his back, Axton grabbed the two large objects strapped to his armor and tossed them onto the floor. "On the ground, now!" the Officer demanded again.

"As you say," Axton replied before taking a knee. With a push of a button on his Omni-tool the two large, rectangular objects he had tossed to the ground unfolded into two turrets the height of an average Volus. A barrier snapped up between the two of them to protect Axton before both turrets whirred to life before spraying the area with heavy disruptor ammo-enhanced, radioactive-harpoon rounds. From the second barrel of both guns came a the 'thump-boom' combination of high explosive rounds fired from the cannon-like secondary weapon of the Cerberus Scorpio Turret.

As the two turrets, unaffected by the blindingly bright light, sprayed the area with weapons fire, the turrets popped out their extended heat sinks before auto-reloading with fresh ones and continuing their deadly spray. As the turrets fired, the other members of the Cerberus squad stormed through the door behind Axton. Sniper rounds from Mordecai took out the lights before shifting to the large number of fortified enemies arrayed against the squad. From Brick's massive rifle came the thump-boom of explosive rounds as he used his favored style of damage over fire rate to sow even more chaos.

Just at the Turians started to regroup from the lethal opening act, Lilith appeared in the midst of them with a powerful, full-body Shockwave that sent a large number of the Officers either to the ground or flying into other Officer or walls. Maya then made her debut by waving her arm and locking more than twenty C-Sec Officers in a mass Stasis field which left them open for Mordecai to pick off with even more ease than normal. Salvador, with his dual-wielded submachineguns, rushed forward and started picking off the Officers that had Lilith pinned down.

That was their standard operating procedure. Axton started the chaos with his turrets, Brick added to it with his explosive assault rifle and or pistol and shotgun, Lilith then enhanced that by disrupting enemy lines from within, Maya took some heat off of Lilith to allow her time to get a proper barrier in place by using her mass Stasis field which also allowed Mordecai uninterrupted aim of his targets, and Salvador rushed in to pull Lilith out of the frying pan and into the fryer. The last three steps that supported Lilith's attack were a necessary evil the squad gladly dealt with. Lilith's ability to disrupt the enemy from within was an invaluable asset, but required so much energy that her amp usually overheated to a dangerous level if she continued fighting after Ghosting.

To circumvent this, Lilith had two amps; one to help with her Ghosting and another specifically to help her maintain a barrier after the first amp overheated. This allowed her to weather the storm of bullets aimed at her long enough for Salvador to cut a path to her. Once the path was clear, Maya released a shockwave into the enemy's ranks that was just strong enough to stagger them long enough for Lilith to make the mental switch between which amp she used. From there, both she and Salvador retreated behind friendly lines under the cover fire provided by the Scorpio Turrets.

Lilith and Salvador slid behind Maya just as the Scorpio Turrets expended the last of their thermal clips, the turrets, due to their size, had clips that were three times larger than the standard clip and only carried three per turret with no ability to use standard clips to keep them firing. Maya erected a barrier to cover the squad as the turrets folded back into their cases and began the process of cooling down their super heated thermal clips by suspending them in the same fluid that soldiers used in their own Thermal Belts. Unlike standard Alliance gear, the turrets didn't have enough room for a standard heat sink, not while still being easily carried into battle, so once the clips were spent, the guns were useless.

As the Turian, Salarian, Asari, and even the occasional Batarian, C-Sec Officers regrouped, their numbers now drastically reduced, the squad, minus Maya, opened fire with renewed vigor. Without the turrets and with no cover except Maya's barrier, they were sitting ducks and that was a situation they needed to rectify immediately. Even with the promise of Lilith's biotics providing a second barrier should Lilith's fail, Ghosting was a skill that required a lot of physical energy which meant that Lilith would grow tired and possibly auto-cannibalize if pushed to hard. Add to that the fact that their squad had two Soldiers and two Adepts as opposed to having a Sentinel and a Vanguard and the girls were the only biotics they had available.

That, however, had never been an issue for Cerberus' frontline infiltration squad. They always came out on top, it was the reason Colonel Ryan picked them for the most dangerous missions. They had even helped in the assault on Virmire, though the Humans still had no name for the planet they had attempted to destroy.

As the last C-Sec Officer fell, an Asari with a rather impressive barrier that simply couldn't hold up to the power of Brick's explosive rifle-fire, Maya let her barrier drop with a quick release of breath. "Take it easy now," Lilith said as she pulled the canteen off of Maya's belt and unscrewed the cap. "Drink," she instructed the younger biotic.

"Thanks," Maya said as she wiped her mouth after downing an eighth of the canteen.

The canteen was standard equipment for every soldier in the Alliance Marine Corps, but a biotic's canteen, rather than hold water, was full of a specialized energy drink that could restore massive amounts of energy to their bodies with just a few swallows. The down side to this? The stuff was addictive to biotics to the point that their bodies, after a while, began to become dependant on the stuff to function, and is straight up lethal to anyone without eezo in their body. The amount of energy transferred by a single swallow would make a normal person's heart beat so fast that it would give out in a matter of minutes. To prevent any accidental consumption, biotic canteens were marked with clearly labeled warnings written in brightly colored letters.

"Was that quiet enough for you?" Axton asked.

"_It may have been fast, but it was far from quiet. Get the readings I need and get the hell out of there. The plant providing power to this entire Ward is dead ahead. Just follow the tingling sensation in the air. Oh, and the closer you get, the more your disrupted your equipment will be. That includes your barriers so get out of there before enemy reinforcements arrive. I'll be waiting for your broadcast,"_ Gabriella replied in her usual tone of pissed-off indifference.

"I seriously wonder what her problem is," Maya said.

"Probably hasn't gotten laid in years," Brick mused.

"I could fix that!" Salvador said with a shit-eating grin.

In reply to this, all three of the Humans who had said something received a massive shock as their barriers overloaded directly into their skin. For Maya and Brick it was a shock that hit their whole bodies, but for Salvador… the entire current was released form the emitters nearest his groin. The shock had, most likely, sterilized the man.

"_That's the only reminder you'll get that I hear everything you say and see everything you do while you're on a mission."_

"You okay?" Lilith asked as she helped Salvador back up to his feet.

"I think my nuts are fried," he said in a high-pitched voice.

"Yeah, well," Lilith said in an unsympathetic tone. "You did deserve that one."

**Serpent Nebula (Widow System) [Cyber-World]***

**Citadel (Presidium Ring)**  
*C-Sec HQ (Terminal)*

The auto-sentries were, unbeknownst to the ONI personnel who developed them, the original version of the Cerberus Scorpio Turret… which ONI had no idea even existed. The auto-sentry had been designed to be an equalizer for Alliance squads when they were outnumbered. The main reason they were never deployed on the frontlines was due to the portability issue. It was, with the current design of auto-sentry, easier to carry Alliance Assault Drones into battle than it was to carry the auto-sentry. Cerberus had, again, unbeknownst to ONI, fixed the portability issue and even improved on the design. Had ONI known all this, there would've been quite the private legal battle between the two groups that only the highest ranking members of the Alliance Navy would ever know about, but, alas, that was not to be. Cerberus, put in blatant terms, was simply to good at moving undetected to be caught by ONI's own counter-intelligence agents.

Nevertheless, the auto-sentries in the virtual realm of the cyber-world were perfectly portable seeing as how they were truly nothing more than a collection of ones and zeros. The portable firewalls were based off of a technology in the real world known as 'pop-up cover' by the Marines who used them which was actually a rather accurate name for them. They were essentially just T-frames that projected small but powerful barriers to provide cover in otherwise coverless environments. The only difference between these and the portal firewalls was that the portable firewalls were just that; computerized firewalls that protected other computer codes, or Human minds, from viral attacks whereas pop-up cover was an actual barrier generated by mass effect fields.

These two pieces of technology-turned-programs were currently helping the Cyberwalkers hold off the massive number of increasingly powerful computer programs hell-bent on removing them from the Citadel's mainframe. The most recent of which had been a large rolling ball that opened up to fire very powerful pulses of antiviral programming at what they perceived to be a malware infestation.

"_The download's complete, get back to the _Skid_!"_ Jeremy ordered as the beam of light that connected the _Skid_ to the tower's primary data port, which represented the data transfer itself, cut off and the _Skid_ lowered down to allow them easier access to the door. As soon as the five Humans had re-entered the Prowler-shaped vehicle, Jeremy added, _"X.A.N.A.'s ready to deploy the modified Geth virus. Get out of there!"_

"Is the terminal access port open to the extranet?" Aelita asked as she maneuvered the _Skid_, which was now under heavy fire from the antiviral programs, down to the lowest level of the tower where the portal to the network was set into the wall.

"_Your firewalls aren't charged enough to survive the return trip right now. You'll have to return to the computers in the C-Sec hospital and let your defenses recharge before heading back to the FTL comm buoy and returning to the Factory. Don't worry, it'll only take a few more minutes and X.A.N.A.'s attack on their mainframe will keep the local VI busy enough that I'll be able to channel more energy to you from the Factory without them detecting you,"_ Jeremy replied.

"Okay, Jeremy, we're setting out and dropping the package now; it'll destroy the equipment we left behind, but that's easily reprogrammed. Broadband acceleration in three… two… one… now," Aelita said as the _Skid_ plunged into the data stream.

They re-emerged from the data stream into the tower they had been in before and Aelita brought the _Skid_ in for a landing at the dock. All around them the tower was pulsating a deep red color and alarms were blaring. Entire armies of antiviral programs were scurrying about and marching their way to the terminal access port at the top of the tower. Form there they were essentially e-mailed over to the computers in C-Sec that were currently fighting off the modified Geth virus. Thankfully none of the programs noticed when the _Skid_'s energy levels spiked higher than their stealth programming could compensate for.

"Alright guys, we're headed home," Aelita said as she undocked them from the computer and entered the terminal access port at the bottom of the tower. From there they were sent to the first computer they had arrived in, and, from there, they flew back along the data stream that linked the Citadel to the hundreds of comm buoys in the Serpent Nebula. "Here we go, last time. Broadband acceleration in three… two… one… mark."

This time the _Skid_ reappeared in the tower that represented the original FTL comm buoy and, as they exited the firewalled exterior, they all breathed a sigh of relief. They had made it through an alien supercomputer with their minds fully intact, even if they were mentally exhausted.

**Serpent Nebula (Widow System)***

**Citadel (Wards Access)**  
*C-Sec Academy (C-Sec Requisitions)*

"Wow," the Turian C-Sec Officer behind the counter said as three legendary figures entered his shop. "I've dealt with SPECTREs before, but never three galaxy-renowned Agents at once."

"Current events are pushing things into action that the Council is feeling rather insecure about," Turian SPECTRE Nihlus Kryik replied indifferently. "We're being sent to investigate the up-starters."

"No," Asari SPECTRE Tela Vasir countered. "**I'm** being sent to investigate the Humans. You're coming along because you bullied your way into my mission."

"You two are both ridiculous," Saren Arterius said with a shake of his head. "Just give me your best and throw in a suit of Salarian armor for Boa. I'm sure he's itching for revenge as well."

"Certainly, SPECTRE," the requisitions Officer said as he walked into the back room. He returned ten minutes later with a hover-cart carrying five large crates. "I've got two sets of Turian armor, one heavy and one light; one Asari combat suit, medium by preference; and two sets of Salarian armor since Agent Boa tends to take one set and modify it. I figure he'll need the spare parts seeing as how he probably lost his armor to the Humans; I figure he'll need to start over from scratch. I've also included several armor mods of varying types based off of your predetermined preferences. Will there be anything else?"

"Weapons," Nihlus replied smoothly. "I feel the need to be sure my equipment is still up to par with the best that the Citadel has to offer. I don't like the annoyingly large number of unknown factors we'll be facing once we make the slow FTL jump past Relay 314."

"As you wish," the Officer replied. After nearly half an hour of checking and double checking that the equipment they were carrying was indeed the best that the Council had at its disposal, the three SPECTRE Agents turned to leave. "Good luck out there," the Officer called after them. "Not that you'll need it," he added with a nervous laugh when Saren threw a look over his shoulder.

Vasir was the first of the three present to walk up the final step that led down to the requisitions office. She was, therefore, the first of the three to see an exact copy of herself standing by the elevator that led up to the docking bay above C-Sec Academy. Vasir stopped in her tracks, her eyes locked on her twin, and thought to herself that this shouldn't be possible. There were too many people on the Citadel alone for there to be two of her in one place. Then she noticed the 'other' Nihlus and her blood began to boil.

"You!" Nihlus exclaimed as he turned to face Vasir.

"Ready for round two?" Vasir asked in a dark tone.

"What the hell's going on here?" the other Vasir asked.

"Nothing that concerns you," Saren replied, his eyes narrowed on the other Nihlus who was already reaching for his gun.

"I think an imposter impersonating **me** warrants **my** attention," Vasir said as her body began to glow threateningly.

"Take the bags and get to the ship," Vasir ordered as she rolled her shoulders. "This is between the four of us."

"I hate it when you take things personally," Nihlus said with a sigh before leading the cart towards the elevator.

The other Nihlus was between him and his destination so fast it was almost as if the alien hadn't moved at all. He stood there, baring the way and holding a gun… to himself. Then he was being thrown against the wall by Vasir's fist as it was propelled into the side of his head at super-human speeds. Nihlus hit the far wall as his imposter moved the hover-cart forward. He made it into the elevator, Saren engaging the other Vasir to keep her at bay, before his body shimmered and distorted until a Batarian was riding the elevator to the top in place of the Turian.

Nihlus recovered from the shock of the impact to his head quicker than most people would, even by his own race's standards, and delivered a lightning fast jab to Vasir's ribs. The blue woman doubled over in pain, her body flickering wildly before finally giving out and leaving empty space before the Turian.

"What in the name of the Spirits…" Nihlus began before a biotic shockwave sent him slamming into the far wall.

"I still don't know how you move so fast, but know that I'm nearly as fast as you are regardless of your methodology," Vasir said before, in a blur of motion, she was standing over the Turian, "and this time I'm not about to be beat by someone as pathetic as you!"

Saren, engaging the other Vasir, took a Warp to his barrier and suffered the regrettable affect of having his, or, rather, her, holo-shroud give out. In place of the infamous Turian SPECTRE there stood a creature that Vasir had no name for. It had fur growing out of its head where an Asari's tentacles would be, but had the same general physical characteristics that an Asari would have. Her view of the creature was interrupted when its body shimmered again, this time stabilizing until a Batarian woman stood before Vasir holding its arm where the Warp energy even now ate away at its armor.

"Too long has the greatness of the Batarian Hegemony been overshadowed by the ilk and scum of the universe that is the Asari. Too long!" the Batarian shouted before charging at Vasir with a fist of biotic energy leading her rapid acceleration.

The blow, despite being well within Vasir's ability to block, landed under her chin and sent her flying up and back. So stunned was the Asari by the sudden appearance of the Batarian extremist that she had been momentarily shocked into inaction. That had cost her one hell of a trip to the hospital even if it didn't cost her her life, and, even though Vasir would never know this, it was all according to plan.

As the Batarian woman stood there breathing hard and recovering from her assault, her companion impacted the wall behind her with such force that she herself stumbled forward from the force of the impact before barely getting a barrier in place to stop Nihlus, for this was the real Nihlus, from punching her in the head with enough force to have broken her neck had not she acted in time. Stumbling back from the force of the blow, even despite it having impacted her barrier, the Batarian woman tripped and fell before landing hard on her ass. As she sat there, stunned, the wall behind her gave out and she fell back much to her surprise. Then, adding to her confusion, her body was pulled back before a mighty blow was delivered into the floor where her chest had been just moments before.

"Fuck this!" the Batarian's partner said before slamming her foot into the ground. A pulse raced froth from her body that sent Nihlus flying backwards just long enough for the elevator they were in to begin its ascent.

Nihlus watched them go, his vision blood-red and his eyes faintly glowing as the cybernetic implants that gave him his great speed flared with his emotions. A voice in his head drove him forward and, before he knew it, Nihlus was climbing the elevator shaft after the Batarians, claws replacing his fingers as his body morphed and changed into something more animalistic as the voice commanded it to, his very DNA giving in to the Will of the Voice. He reached the top of the elevator shaft in time to see a ship the likes of which he had never seen before slipping out of the docking cradle before silently disappearing into space.

It was an alien ship, there could be no doubt about that, but the Citadel fleet wasn't even attempting to target the vessel as it flew past their defensive lines as if they weren't even there. It was then that the voice in Nihlus' head spoke again with greater clarity now that rage no longer blocked out its words.

"_**We have underestimated our enemy. It will not happen again. I am releasing control of this form. Return to your objective. Answer all questions directed towards you about the subject as we have directed previously."**_

"By your command, Sovereign," Nihlus replied to the Voice as his fingers grew back over his claws and his vision and body returned to normal.

**Citadel (Orbit)**  
*_Shadow Mare_ (CIC)*

"Pilot, make for the Relay," Gabriella ordered as the _Shadow Mare_ zipped away from the Citadel. "Comms, relay a message through the _Newton_ to the _Everest_ letting them know we're leaving then let the Illusive Man know that all primary and secondary objectives have been accomplished including the sowing of the seeds of doubt and applicable plausible deniability."

"Aye aye, ma'am," the pilot replied before altering their course slightly to take them to the Relay as opposed to just heading deeper into the nebula.

"Messages are away," the comms officer added. "_Everest_ Actual acknowledges our departure and the Illusive Man is requesting both the infiltration squad's and your own presence in the FTL comm room."

"Take us through the Relay and make the jump to FTL but drop out half way, vent the IES, and cycle out the discharge batteries. I'll be in the comms room," Gabriella ordered before leaving her place at the head of the holo-map and walking towards the back of the ship. The doors to the FTL comms room opened and Gabriella's mere presence was enough to clear a path to the head of the room, the six figure present parting like the Red Sea in the biblical tales of old. "You rang?" Gabriella asked in an indifferent tone of boredom.

"_You could at least __**act**__ like you have some measurable amount of respect even if you don't,"_ the Illusive Man said in reply to her tone.

"Everyone here knows that I'm not the type to 'beat around the bush,' as the saying used to go, so cut the crap and start acting like my time isn't wasted here when I could be starting my research into everything you just stole from the most advanced species in this galaxy," Gabriella snapped back. She had had enough of Ryan's new persona already and it had only been a month. The smoking and drinking were getting on her nerves and professionalism went out the window when you know you're literally too smart to be replaced.

"_What's the situation?"_ the Illusive Man asked.

Axton opened his mouth to reply, as was his duty as the squad's leader, but Gabriella cut him off with a roll of her eyes and the press of a button on the comms terminal. Before Axton had so much as uttered a single word, the Illusive Man's image was gone and she was walking towards the door. A split second later and the projector came to life again, the Illusive Man standing now as opposed to sitting, his artificially glowing eyes bright with rage.

"_Gabriella!"_ he called after her, his tone edgy.

"Do **not**," Gabriella nearly shouted as she turned to face him, one foot out the door, the rage in the Illusive Man's eyes a shimmering ember compared to the pure malice radiating from her entire being, "waste my time asking me stupid fucking questions you already know that goddamned answers to! You watch the same damned video feeds during every mission that I do so don't play the role of the ignorant boss unless you want me to **make** you as ignorant as you pretend to be. Either take this process seriously so that I can get to the work that our species needs done in order to survive the coming war, or I **will** cut off your access to everything but your damned station's own security feeds so that you can ask how things went and actually get an answer to the question that you didn't already know ahead of time!"

The room, and indeed the entire ship, fell into a dead silence at her words and tone, the open door allowing both to carry far and wide down the echoing metal halls. The humming in the floorboards that the engines created while the ship was in-flight was the only sound left audible. So complete was the silence that it was as if the ship had been vented of all air and filled with a soundless vacuum or that the audio emulators had been turned off while the battle was still waging. So oppressive was the silence that the pilot even halted the _Shadow Mare_ at the Relay and sat there as if waiting for the galaxy to start spinning again.

Gabriella, the only person who felt invincible enough to keep moving, let along breathing, stuck her head out of the comms room and shouted, "WHO THE FUCK TOLD YOU TO STOP THE FUCKING SHIP!? GET BACK TO WORK OR I'LL HAVE YOU ALL THROWN OUT OF A FUCKING AIRLOCK!" before refocusing her attention on the holographic representation of the man who ran their organization. "Well?" she asked in an annoyed tone, her foot tapping away the seconds that he kept her idle, kept the development of the Human race stagnant.

The Illusive Man took a step back away from the image of the pissed off woman and put his cigarette out in the ashtray on his chair's armrest. He also set down the bottle of liquor. _"Very well then,"_ Ryan said, _"we'll play this your way."_

"You mean the logical way that even the most uneducated of Army grunts in the Alliance use?" Gabriella replied, her tone razor sharp. "Stop. Wasting. My. Time!" Gabriella said again, enunciating each word as if each and every one was the crack of a whip against a slave's back.

"_What did we gain?"_ Ryan finally asked after nearly ten seconds of silent glaring.

"Two biotic amps, one made by the Turians so that we know what they're capable of and one made by the Asari since they make the best amps in the galaxy; two sets of Salarian armor to add to what the Alliance already has, but nothing more is known; two sets of Turian armor tailored specifically for the two Turians we fought on that planet that nobody has a name for; one set of Asari armor tailored for the Asari SPECTRE you took a recent interest in; a full scan of one of the Citadel's power plants; and a shit ton of data mined by ONI's operatives. My advice is that we trade the amps for a copy of the data since we all know that ONI hates us right now and won't surrender it without an equal trade or a presidential order," Gabriella replied in an all-business tone.

"_And why would I trust the future of the Human race to ONI's second-rate screw ups?"_ Ryan asked.

"Because, despite your ill-will towards them, ONI actually has a team of scientists that outclass your perverted clones of humanity's greatest minds by so great of a margin that it's not even within my vocabulary to describe exactly how utterly frustrating it is for me to have to work with these fucking morons!"

Gabriella was back to nearly shouting. She had every right to be. Her team of scientists were clones of people Ryan had altered in an attempt to make them smarter. His failure was so spectacular that Gabriella had shot each and everyone of them in the head before continuing her work on her own and getting thirteen times the amount of work done once the extra bodies were, quite literally, out of her way.

"I know little to nothing about biotics because I, myself, am not one. I was never part of the bio-amp development team; that was Alliance tech that was just took and ran with. The only thing I did in terms of helping the biotics was giving Lilith and the other Sirens a second amp without killing them. Give the amps we got to ONI and we can steal the results of their labor later, or, and here's a crazy idea, we could just **ask** them to share what they have and, odds are, and you're really not going to believe this, but THEY JUST MIGHT!"

And with that, she was gone.

"_I want you to personally deliver the equipment to Onyx. Hand it off to Doctor Halsey, and only Doctor Halsey, then report back to me. I'll have another mission for you by the time you get back. Illusive Man out."_

The moment the Illusive Man's image was gone, Maya let out a shaky breath as she wiped sweat off of her brow. "I thought for sure she had gotten us killed that time."

"He won't kill her," Axton countered as he left the room, the others following closely behind him. "She's the only one in our entire organization, and indeed the galaxy, he sees as irreplaceable. She's the brains behind everything we have; the Discharge Batteries, the IES, the entire Stealth Frigate design, the enhanced FTL speeds and durability… everything Cerberus has comes from her and he knows it, she knows it, and she knows that, because of it, he won't so much as touch her let alone try and replace her."

"I'd clone her and fix her personality to make her nicer," Salvador said while subconsciously rubbing at his now infertile testicles.

"Ha!" Mordecai laughed, his tone dark and menacing.

"What?" Brick asked.

"Gabriella was part of the original team that got the Matrix up and running on Mars, she's the sole reason it's working now after the damage it took when we stole it from the Alliance lab, and she's humanity's leading expert on how the thing works. She rewrote the master control crystal, a piece of technology we can neither replicate nor replace, and made it so that her DNA **can't** be cloned by that machine without some access code she programmed into it. She is, quite literally, the only person in this galaxy that the Illusive Man can't just have replaced by a clone or someone of equal or greater skill. She's made herself one-of-a-kind, irreplaceable, and she made sure he knew it," Lilith explained.

***NOTICE: Location Classified (Tier 1 Level Access Required)***

**Onyx (Surface)**

*Alpha Site (Research and Development Wing) [approximately one month later]*

"Doctor Halsey," a voice said from the doorway.

"Yes, Mister President?" Halsey asked as she turned to face the man at her door.

"We can begin anytime now."

Halsey nodded in reply as the President and Admiral Hackett took their seats at a table. She then pressed a button on her Omni-tool and the face of Cerberus' brightest mind appeared before them.

"_Took you long enough,"_ Gabriella said in an annoyed tone.

"Onyx has the highest security clearance required for planetary access in Alliance Territory. Customs tends to take a while as a result," Halsey, the director of the Office of Naval Intelligence's research and development teams, said in a matter-of-fact tone. Such was her position that only Admiral Margaret Orlenda Parangosky, the director and overseer of all things ONI, was over her.

"And yet your security fails to keep out someone who isn't even a trained Infiltrator," Gabriella's voice said, this time from directly behind the assembled men and women. She took a seat next to Nick and pressed a button on her own Omni-tool before the screen began displaying a mass of information in place of her forged image.

"I would ask what you're doing here…" Halsey began

"But it would be an overly stupid question for which I would have but one answer," Gabriella interrupted as she laid her right arm on the table.

The flesh and blood limb had been replaced by a metallic one covered in small hatches that housed various tools and even a few weapons. The most obvious of which were the sonic pulse cannon mounted in the palm of her metallic hand, the industrial-grade wielding laser built into her wrist, the five drill bits she could fire from her fingertips like bullets, and the electrical current she could channel through her new fingers. Four ways to kill someone without factoring in the unnatural strength of the artificial limb itself.

"What the hell happened to your arm?" Nick asked in a concerned tone.

"I'll tell you about it later when we're not in the middle of debriefing the senior staff of the Alliance's Armed Forces on the current situation we find ourselves in," Gabriella replied with a casual wave of the robotic arm she was, by now, apparently already used to. "Let's begin with the obvious political developments so that I can confer with Halsey here and make sure ONI and Cerberus are on the same page. Mister President, you're up," Gabriella said, waving her remaining organic arm to the floor so as to prompt him forward.

"Right," Nick said as he stood up and took the stand.

Why this meeting was being held at ONI's HQ was rather simple. Nobody had security like ONI except Cerberus, but their operations were so tightly locked up that only Cerberus operatives themselves knew where the hell _Chronos Station_ really was. While that was a risk, in Hackett's eyes, it was one that the Alliance was working with since they knew that the less they were publically connected to Cerberus, the more the organization could do things that were… of a questionable nature without the Alliance itself suffering any ill affects. To the galaxy, Cerberus was already known as a pro-Human terrorist cell that had sprung up over the sacking of Shanxi. Only the highest ranking officers in the Alliance knew that Cerberus still answered to Terra Renatus High Command.

"Henry, unfortunately, has rather depressing news, so I'll give you the good news first so we can, at least, start on a good note. The Quarians have accepted our proposal and will be moving their fleet to the Harvest-edge of the boarder to Alliance Territory as soon as is feasible to move such a large fleet. Once they've arrived, we'll break up their civilian fleet into the five separate mining groups and get them a full map of all none classified sections of Alliance territory and a map of the known Relay Network. The military portion of the Quarian Flotilla will be broken into two groups then divided even further after that.

"Any ship not fit for sustained combat will be headed for Reach for repairs and upgrades. The ships we deem to still be in fighting condition will be split up to protect their civilian ships as they're not going to trust us with that just yet. A smaller portion of the leftover combat-capable ships will be incorporated into the Alliance Navy to begin training them in our methods of combat. For now, they've agreed to help us further our mastery of mass effect-field forging techniques. They're also going to be helping us with ship production as well and even have a few ideas for new ship classes that will make patrol fleets more powerful without sacrificing too many additional resources."

"The Quarians are calling the new class Destroyers," Gabriella added as an image appeared on the screen. The ship was sleek, fierce, small, and obviously armed to the teeth. "It's a hybrid; a cross between a Frigate and a Cruiser. In all respects, they could be called Light Cruisers, but they're just too damned maneuverable for such a clunky title. Not as maneuverable as a Frigate, mind you, but damned close and packing twice the firepower of a Heavy Frigate which is nearly four times the fire power of a standard-weight Frigate. They'll increase the lethality of patrol groups without increasing ship counts which means that all we have to do is switch out a few Cruisers and Frigates from our patrol fleets for a few Destroyers and we'll have an even more lethal network of patrol ships."

"Wow," General Williams said in disbelief.

"These Quarians are going to be an invaluable asset to the Alliance," Gabriella assured him matter-of-factly.

"I don't mean the ship," Williams corrected.

"He means he's surprised that they went for the deal we offered them," Hackett clarified. "I must admit, I'm surprised myself."

"The promise of safe refuge from the Terminus Pirates was enough to sway their civilian government, the Conclave. The Admiralty Board was then enticed to join by the video Kal'Reeger and the other Quarians took back with them of the _McKay_ and the _Newton_ destroying the Batarian fleet with nothing but a few fighter squadrons and two large ships. When I told them those ships weren't even Dreadnoughts, they got really interested," Nick replied.

"Unfortunately the Citadel Council was the exact opposite of that mentality," the Vice President said as he took the floor. "They've… stipulated demands that are nonnegotiable, demands that every species under their command has to follow. And that, my dear people, is where our troubles begin…"

*Long Sword Base (Research and Development Wing) [three hours later]*

"The terms are outrageous, I know," Admiral Hackett said, "and clearly meant to keep the Turians in charge, but they were unavoidable and we have our own plans to handle them. And that is where my presentation begins."

Standing up and taking the floor from poor Henry who had to tell everyone present that the Citadel Council was intent on studying their technology with no reparations for advances made and reducing the size of both their ships and fleets, Hackett stood before the assembled men and women, of which there were twenty-five. His back was straight, his posture perfect, as was his custom. After clearing his throat, he began.

"The Systems Alliance Parliament, and indeed the Alliance Armed Forces and all her subdivisions, are all in agreement; the Citadel Council cannot be trusted, and therefore shall not be. Our goal is to stall, mislead, and keep them from entering Alliance Territory until we're ready for them. To that end, we have many things we need to accomplish, among which is the completetion of the _Infinity_, the flagship of the Alliance Naval Fleet and our one-track nuclear deterrent to total war. Once completed, the ship will only need to be used once, in the proper setting, to keep the Citadel races so afraid of what'll happen to them should a war break out that the Turians won't have a choice in the matter. Their own public will turn against them out of fear and our independence will be all but assured. We'll have to station weapons platforms at all of the Relays to keep the Salarians out, but that's already begun.

"The Citadel Council has also dictated that the Alliance is to be their slaves. The words they used to say this were far prettier, but the message was just as clear. We will not bow to their demands, but we do not yet have the strength to openly resist them. We can stall their inspections of our planets by allowing Admiral Green's Terra Firma Party to stage protests, some of which will purposefully be violent. By controlling this organization from the shadows, we will be able to control both the chaos and the timing and placement of the Council's inspection teams. The two coupled together will form a smoke screen that will allow our armed forces to pull a Houdini and make entire naval fleets and marine detachments disappear over night.

"In order to fool them into thinking we're not hiding anything, we'll need to construct new shipyards over colonized worlds least their attention fall to Reach simply because they can't find where we're building our Dreadnoughts which brings me back to Operation Houdini. We must keep ships, and indeed entire fleets, out of their sights which means off the records entirely. Cerberus will be responsible for the bookkeeping of several of the Alliance's larger patrol fleets. Seeing as how the organization is already off of the public record, their interference will be undetectable. This will allow the Alliance to publicly claim a small enough number of ships that the Council won't be able to object to our continued expansion.

"The Ark Ships must all be moved to Reach to be melted down, now, before the Salarians send a team to investigate our compliance with their demands then later question where our largest ships up and disappeared to. The _Infinity_ is too important for us to leave her unfinished either way and the Ark Ships, now that they're no longer needed, are our largest supply of refined Prothean armored plating. The usage of the ships will mean that the _Infinity_ will only take months to build as opposed to years. ONI will also have to step up and start working more projects off of public record, a small step and one easily made, but there is one issue with which we must contend above all others…"

"The Citadel Council has 'forbid' the Systems Alliance from breaking off from the Council and joining the Terminus Systems. We asked if we could be an independent state, and they said that two galactic powers were too many already. Naturally we argued against this, but, in the end, we don't have the strength to fight them, not yet. Until we do, we must play by their rules. However," General Williams elaborated, "the moment we have the strength to stand alone and independent of the Council, the Alliance will be breaking off and forming its own independent power as the Human race has no desire to be lorded over by aliens who have no respect for our kind and desire only what we can offer them yet offer nothing in return. We must hold out and keep our hearts true if this dream is to be realized. Many lies will be told, but many lives will be spared in the telling of them."

"And now for the update on all things technological including what we now know about our enemy," Gabriella said as she and Halsey took the stage.

"Let's begin with a truth about Galen only a few of you are aware of," Halsey said as the holo-screen shifted to reveal a Turian ship represented with amazing technical detail. "This is the Turian Hierarchy's Heavy Frigate Class vessel. This particular one is called the _Verrikan_."

"In a show of unprecedented cooperation between the two organizations, the ship was captured by a squadron of ONI's best pre-emptive boarding parities flown in on one of Cerberus' Stealth Frigates. The team itself was led by one Zaeed Massani, a grizzled old World War III veteran working for Cerberus. Thankfully, despite our differences, ONI and Cerberus are perfectly capable of working together when we need to," Gabriella interrupted.

That was a thing with these two. Each was the smartest member of their respective organizations and each knew the other was their biggest competition. They never let one or the other 'win' their little competitions and it was **always** a competition with them. Due to this, Halsey promptly cut off Gabriella to balance the scale that only the two were fully aware existed.

"We told the Turians that the ship was destroyed and dropped some debris in orbit from the remains over Shanxi to help sell that idea. As far as they know, the ship is gone and so is the crew. In reality, we have both. The ship has been turned over to ONI for study while the crew is currently being held and interrogated by Cerberus. This… arrangement worked best for all involved, though ONI does have several agents observing the interrogation effort and Cerberus has several operatives helping us to understand the technology in the ship."

"Since the Cyberwalkers have already broken through their firewalls, it's just a matter of comparing the information to what we already knew and figuring out the hardware. We now have a full, uncorrupted copy of the Public Citadel Codex as well as a partial copy of the Turian Military Codex. The Cyberwalkers are currently gearing up for an all-out assault on Palaven High Command's computers in a bid to get the rest as well."

"That mission, however," Halsey added when Admiral Hackett raised an eyebrow at that declaration, "will be postponed until after we've deciphered the data we stole from the Citadel itself. With any luck, we either won't need to launch the attack or, failing that, we'll learn enough about Turian computers to upgrade the _Skid_'s virtual camouflage to the point that the Cyberwalkers will be able to walk in and out without the computers thinking them anything more than a properly authorized search engine program."

"You can do that?" General Williams asked.

"It's a theoretical possibility made a likely by the abundance of data we have to shift through, coding samples we have to study, and the brilliance of the two people who created the Factory and the _Skid_," Gabriella replied.

The room then went silent as several people, those who knew how bizarre that statement had just sounded, looked at Gabriella in a questioning tone. "Did…" Halsey began before going silent again.

"Did you really just call someone other than yourself brilliant?" Nick asked when Halsey failed to ask the question.

Gabriella's response was a stiffening of her stance as she resisted the urge to role her eyes or make a snide comeback. After taking a deep breath, she pressed a button on her Omni-tool and continued the presentation. "Thanks to the efforts of ONI's Cyberwalkers, all video evidence of the presence of Cerberus' infiltration squad was removed without incident with the application of a Geth virus. All physical evidence was removed by hand, cleaned up by the Keepers, or purposefully altered to make it appear as if it was anyone but humanity that performed the deeds."

"Years from now, when we're an independent nation and they've seen both our true colors and the true extent of our technology, they'll start putting the pieces together until they have it figured out. It's unavoidable, but it won't happen anytime in the next decade unless they manage to advance their technology to our level which we all know we won't let happen," Halsey picked up.

"Cerberus has already begun mobilizing more infiltration squadrons. We'll have eyes, ears, and hands in all of the Council's biggest research and development and manufacturing centers before the end of the year," Gabriella then finished.

"Why is Cerberus mobilizing without proper authorization?" Admiral Parangosky asked.

"_For the same reasons that ONI has already tripled your production of war assets and increased your… 'recruitment' efforts, Admiral,"_ the unmistakable voice of Cerberus' enigmatic leader said, his voice coming from Gabriella's pocket.

"Right," Gabriella said as she dug a small ball out of her pocket. A press of a button then had the ball floating in the air where it then proceeded to project a holographic image. "I forwarded the designs to Tank three months ago," she added when Hackett eyed the floating ball.

"Tank?" Hackett asked.

"_It was a minor technological improvement that wasn't a necessity seeing as how an Omni-tool is perfectly capable of performing the same task without the need for carrying around an extra piece of stealable technology,"_ Hackett's personal AI replied from the man's Omni-tool just to prove his point. _"I did, however, pass the design along to Alliance R&D. They're looking into other applications for the technology and a variant has been released to the public."_

"_Getting this conversation back on track,"_ Colonel Mitchell said as he paced back and forth before the assembled leaders of the Human race, _"Cerberus has only begun what would've been ordered of us anyway. This way we're already in motion as opposed to sitting idle while our enemies advance around us. Time is of the essence and we are out still outgunned. The least we can do is be the ones to do the outmaneuvering before we, ourselves, are outmaneuvered. The Salarian Union has already begun efforts to improve the abilities of their stealth ships. Thanks to our efforts, that project will soon blow up in their faces."_

"And if you're discovered?" Nick asked, his tone level.

"_The galaxy at large sees the Terra Firma Party as the peaceful protestors and has already labeled Cerberus as a terrorist organization. If we are discovered, there will be no repercussions the Council can inflict on humanity as a whole without risking open war as a result of their actions."_

"And besides, we have ways to make them think it was… other people who were responsible," Gabriella added.

"You mean how you purposefully framed the Batarian Hegemony for the assault on the Citadel's power plant?" Admiral Parangosky accused the duo.

"_No, Admiral, we framed the Batarians for the theft of the IDs belonging to three Council SPECTRE agents. We framed a mercenary organization known as the Eclipse for the assault on the power plant,"_ Colonel Mitchell corrected the woman.

"Can we stop this argument **before** it actually begins?" Nick cut off both of the people. The hatred between ONI and Cerberus started at the top with the Admiral and the Colonel and spread from there because the two couldn't get along for any measurable amount of time… unless, of course, the fate of the Human race hung in the balance. "I'm still curious to know how the hell Nihlus managed to make our agents."

"I have a theory, but nothing more," Gabriella replied as an image captured by C-Sec's cameras displayed on the screen. On one side it showed Nihlus as a normal Turian and, on the other, it showed Nihlus in his animalistic form, his eyes burning with an inner light. "Nihlus' body is full of cybernetic implants the likes of which I've only ever seen once before in my life…"

"_The Arca Monolith,"_ Mitchell practically hissed as his brightly glowing eyes scanned the image on the screen.

"Precisely," Gabriella confirmed his half-question.

"And why did that not happen to the Colonel?" Hayes asked.

"Because he was only exposed to a partial blast," Gabriella replied. "When the device hit Hislop and Harper it had enough energy to change them both nearly instantly. The fact that it went through both of them, they were touching each other, before jumping through the air to reach the Colonel is the only reason he wasn't changed into a Meta-Human."

"And we're sure that he's still… all there?" Parangosky asked, her tone serious and not mocking.

"I ran ten scans a day for ten weeks straight and noticed no change in the Colonel's neurological functions," Gabriella assured them. "As for Nihlus, I'm certain that his implants allowed him to identify Lil by the… colors of her biotic aura. Put as simply as I can make it, each biotic has a different frequency that they vibrate on sort of like how radios work and Nihlus' implants allow him to tell the difference between those vibrations."

"Lil?" General Williams asked.

"Lilith, the first Adept trained by Cerberus to be a Siren," Gabriella replied.

"Siren?" Vice President Hayes added.

"A sub-classification of Adepts, Sirens are biotic specialists that have two biotic amps. The first is your standard, run-of-the-mill amp and the second is specifically tailored to both their skills, and their physiology. Lilith, for example, is capable of Ghosting while Maya, another Siren, is capable of deploying mass-Stasis fields. Others, like Angel, have entirely different skills that I can't even begin to explain," Gabriella replied in a tone that indicated that the explanation was over.

"What else do we need to know?" Hayes asked.

"As requested, ONI has separated the Alliance Military Codex from the Public Codex," Halsey replied.

"As an added precaution, I had one the brighter idiots I have for lackies add in a security clearance system based off of the tier classifications. Codex entries are now broken down into six different sub-Codices. We have the Public Alliance Codex, the Alliance Military Codex, the ONI Codex, the Cerberus Codex, the Public Citadel Codex, and the Citadel Military Codex. Rather than create a separate one for each of the Citadel species, we've rolled them altogether into two," Gabriella added.

"Cerberus and ONI have their own Codices now?" General Williams asked in a skeptical tone.

"_Anyone in the Alliance with the proper clearance to access our records can do just that. This just allows us to keep Cerberus and ONI activities out of the Alliance's books incase your Codex is ever compromised or forcefully taken. The Alliance Parliament, as it now stands, 'answers' to the Citadel Council. So long as ONI and Cerberus don't, it's best to keep the three powers as separate in the eyes of the public as possible,"_ Mitchell assured them.

"Sound reasoning," Hackett agreed in a reluctant tone. He was already uncomfortable with how much control over the organization they had lost when their public image became that of a terrorist cell and they 'separated' from the Alliance due to 'political issues.'

"We also have several new technologies to go over since we stole so much from the Citadel and made several new advancements in the past two months. To be honest, we'll most likely be here all night and most of tomorrow before we're halfway done with the material we're scheduled to review. I suggest you get comfortable, we'll be here for the next week," Gabriella replied in an annoyed tone. Clearly she didn't want to be here anymore than the rest of them did.

"And are you going to be a holographic ball that whole time?" Nick asked.

"_I had business to attend to that couldn't be postponed. The deployment efforts of our infiltration squads seemed to be more important than a meeting such as this. However, due to your insistence on a physical appearance, I'm already on my. I'll be there in a few hours baring any emergencies. I suggest you begin the process of clearing my ship now so that I don't have to wait later,"_ Ryan replied before transmitting his clearance codes.

****Alliance Naval Codex: Tier 3 Access Required****

***Primary Codex Entry***

**Locations**

*Alliance "Homeworlds"*

With the destruction of Earth and the formation of the Systems Alliance, humanity's homeworld had been lost. However, there are five locations in Alliance Territory that are seen as de-facto "Homeworlds" for either humanity or sub-groups of the Alliance Armed Forces.

**Terra Renatus**: Located in the New Hope system of the Local Cluster, Terra Renatus is the closest Human-settled world to Earth and the seat of the Systems Alliance Parliament. While this doesn't make Terra Renatus the new homeworld of humanity, the planet is seen as the seat of political power and the "Homeworld" to the Alliance Parliament itself. Even though all officials in the Systems Alliance Parliament are elected by popular vote, once you're a part of the Parliament, you're seen as a resident of Terra Renatus by the public even if, by law, you're still a citizen of the world you were elected to represent. Representatives in the Alliance Parliament have to have lived on the planet that elected them for no less than four years. This rule was made during the birth of the Alliance and was then altered to be eight years as the time humanity spent on their new worlds increased. By the time the next generation is old enough to retire, the rules will be changed again to only being able to represent the planet you were born on.

**Reach**: Though there is a sizeable civilian population on Reach, the planet is the nexus of the Alliance Navy's construction and repair efforts. Reach also serves as the largest training facility for Alliance Naval personnel. "All things Navy come from Reach" is a saying developed by the civilian population of the planet that no one outside of the Alliance Chain of Command actually knows the coordinates to. If a person wishes to visit Reach, not only do they have to go through extensive background checks, but the entire crew of the ship is placed in a medically-induced deep sleep for the duration of the journey and only woken when they have been secreted to a spaceport planet-side. Reach is also the home to the most influential and powerful Admirals in the Alliance Navy and serves as the richest mines and largest forging plants for the Alliance Navy's expansion efforts. This includes production of ships of all classes and the training of everything from fighter pilots to fleet Admirals. The shipyards below the surface, on the surface, and floating in orbit are the largest and most productive manufacturing centers in the Alliance. It is often said that Reach has taken New York's place as the "Planet that never sleeps." Orbit of Reach is often filled with simulated battles to better train pilots, crews, and commanders in the structures of command and the stresses of combat.

**Pandora**: "It's hot, it's inhospitable… it's perfect for what we use if for." — General of the Army Thanos Roland. Pandora is a desert world full of dangerous creatures used by the Alliance Armed Forces to train everything from an Army Grunt to a fully-fledged Marine Specialist. The only difference between Reach and Pandora is that Reach is the seat of power for the Alliance Navy and Pandora is the seat of power for the Alliance Marines. All other standards apply including that Pandora is where Troop Ships are built and crews and soldiers are trained. "Marines" in the Earth Age were a sub-division of the United States Navy with the "Army" being its own branch and entirely separate. When humanity fled the destruction of Earth and formed the Systems Alliance, the pre-existing structure was reworked. "Army" is now a term used to denote any soldier, regardless of specialization, ranking from a N0, more often called "Army Grunts" as they're soldiers that are still in boot camp, to an N4, and "Marine" is a term used to denote any soldier, regardless of specialization, from N5 to N7. A common saying developed by the public in regards to Pandora is, "Fighters/boys/girls are born in every city on every planet, but Soldiers/Men/Women are forged in the fires of Pandora."

**Onyx**: The planet of Onyx exists off of all public records and is known only by its reputation as the largest arms producer in Alliance Territory. Every weapon and piece of armor ever made for the Alliance Armed Forces was forged in the fires of ONI's forges. ONI, the Office of Naval Intelligence, is the only power free to operate without reprimand in the system that Onyx calls home. While still a part of the Alliance Chain of Command, ONI operates on the darker side of the rule book and often breaks laws that the Systems Alliance Parliament would be badly reprimanded for had they been the ones to conduct the experiments that are performed on a daily bases on Onyx. ONI, like Cerberus, answers directly to an Alliance Admiral who stays on site to be sure the organization never goes dark. Under the management of Admiral Parangosky, ONI has achieved many great strides that have put the Alliance Armed Forces where they are now. ONI is also a mineral rich world where the shadow organization of militarized spies and assassins train and build the ships they use to spy on the galaxy at large, the ONI Prowler, Cyberwalkers, and Boarding Specialists being a prime example.

_**Cronos**__**Station**_: To the public, there is no such thing as _Cronos_ _Station_. To those in the know, _Cronos_ _Station_ is the "Homeworld" of Cerberus. As far as the Alliance knows, _Cronos_ _Station_ is just that, a space station, but they can't prove it either way. Cerberus' "Homeworld" is rumored to be massive, mobile, and invisible even to the sensors of an ONI Prowler. Whether this is true or not has never been confirmed. If Cerberus had the resources to build a massive space station, they never let on and their work force doesn't reflect a large enough population for such a project to be possible, but there are things about Cerberus that even the highest ranking military and political figures don't know.

***Office of Naval Intelligence Codex: Tier 2 Access Required***

**Primary Codex Entry**

**Starships**

*ONI Prowlers*

ONI Prowlers are a class of ship designed, manufactured, crewed, and maintained by ONI personnel though they still answer to the Alliance Chain of Command. Utilizing advanced jamming devices and AI-run electronic warfare suits, the ONI Prowler was the Alliance's next step in stealth warfare. The only ship better at remaining hidden was the Cerberus Stealth Frigate. After an executive order from the Alliance Admiralty and some convincing from the President of the Systems Alliance Parliament, the IES system was shared between Cerberus and ONI thus giving ONI the second most advanced stealth ship with Cerberus vessels still outclassing them in terms of endurance. Prowlers are lightly armed vessels of silent observation that utilize bomb bays to deploy stealth mines armed with a Disruptor Torpedo's warhead, a nuclear warhead, or an anti-matter warhead and missile pods to fire Striker Missiles.

ONI Prowlers are not front-line warships, but have proven to be effective at tipping the scales in a fleet's favor during military exercises. On one such occasion, a single ONI Prowler backing Second Fleet managed to 'destroy' nearly al third of First Fleet's Frigates before the Dreadnoughts leading the two fleets ever entered range of one another. After proving itself as a viable support craft, the Prowler was put into increased production though still rarely gets fielded as a warship since McKay Class Carriers are just as effective at bombing targets from range and offer fighter support as well. The one advantage the Prowler has over the Carrier is a suit of sensors that puts the McKay Class Carrier to shame, much to the astonishment and frustration of the Alliance engineers who developed the McKay's pivotal sensory ability.

***Office of Naval Intelligence Codex: Tier 2 Access Required***

**Primary Codex Entry**

**ONI Personnel**

*Boarding Specialists*

ONI Marines aren't trained for ground combat due to the fact that the organization of spies rarely has a reason to perform a full-frontal assault on a fortified target. Typically, should such a situation arise, ONI gathers the needed Intel before the Alliance moves in to finish the job. Due to this, ONI's Marines are trained as the best boarding specialists in the Alliance Armed Forces. Boarding duties are broken down into three sub-classes.

Anti-boarding parties are used when a ship is boarded; an anti-boarding party repels the boarders so that the ship can escape. Counter-boarding parties are also used when a ship is boarded with a slight variation in mission parameters. Where standard anti-boarding protocols have Marines simply remove an enemy boarding party, counter-boarding operations also include boarding and eliminating the crew of the opposing ship. During a pre-emptive boarding action, stealth-equipped ships, such as Cerberus Stealth Frigates and ONI Prowlers, pull up alongside the target vessel and board the craft with the goal of eliminating the crew and taking the ship, or planting sabotage charges to cripple or destroy the enemy vessel remotely.

With these three classifications to ONI's boarding specialists, the Office of Naval Intelligence has the largest and best trained group of Marines for fighting within the confines of a ship where stray bullets can have lethal side-effects.

****Taskforce Cerberus Codex: Access Restricted to Cerberus Personnel****

***Primary Cerberus Codex Entry***

**Technology**

*Discharge Batteries*

Discharge Batteries are large, ejectable power cells that store built-up static electricity generated by FTL travel, combat, and any other case in which a starship generates or absorbs harmful radiation. This allows a ship's crew to be safely insulated from harmful solar radiation storms and allows ships equipped with an IES to extend the amount of time they can remain hidden. When used to gather heat, Discharge Batteries must be ejected into space to cool off, much the same way that a thermal clip must be cooled, before being scooped up and used again. When used to absorb radiation in the hull, Discharge Batteries must be ejected from the ship before their containment seals are breached and destroyed to keep the technology from being discovered as the radiation is nearly impossible to remove without damaging the Discharge Battery. When used to gather static electricity generated from usage of electrical equipment, the energy in a Discharge Battery can be stored then channeled back into the ship should extra power be needed. This allows ships equipped with Discharge Batteries to increase power output until the Discharge Battery runs dead at which point it can be re-used.

Discharge Batteries, while equipped on most Alliance Naval vessels to extend FTL range and combat durability, were designed by Cerberus scientists Gabriella Naco and Derek Sixo to extend the amount of time Cerberus Stealth Frigates could use their IES systems and are also used on ONI Prowlers for similar purposes.

****Taskforce Cerberus Codex: Access Restricted to Cerberus Personnel****

***Primary Cerberus Codex Entry***

**Technology**

*Internal Emissions Sinks*

The Internal Emissions Sinks, more commonly called an IES System, is a Cerberus creation thought up by Gabriella Naco and Derek Sixo. The IES was designed to allow a ship to trap any radiant heat or other detectable emissions within specialized "sinks" within the ship's hull. Essentially a massive heat-sink system with ejectable thermal clips, the IES allows ships to drift through space for weeks or fly through hostile territory for a few hours completely undetected. This has allowed Cerberus to map the Relay Network without being detected by potential hostiles.

Amendment: Since the beginning of the Human-Turian War, the IES has been used to both study the enemy and plant spies within their ranks. Cerberus and ONI ships alike equipped with IES systems have already begun dropping friendly troops and spies alike behind enemy lines undetected thus allowing the Alliance to infiltrate as far into Council space as the Turian and Asari homeworlds theirselves while the Salarian homeworld remains slightly harder to successfully infiltrate to any measurable degree.


	12. Mindoir Mini-Series

**Author's Note**

The following chapter is a collection of mini-stories designed to give you an idea of what daily life on Mindoir might've been like for those who lived there. It's also a sort of 'prelude' to the actual Mindoir chapter.

Chapter 10.1

Mindoir Mini-Series

Coming of Age

***Mindoinese Nebula (Arcian System)***

**Mindoir (Surface)**

*Konstante (Spaceport) [day one]*

Jonathan Shepard stepped out of the passenger liner he had been riding in and took a deep breath of the fresh, farm-land air. It was good to be home after so long. "Stop blocking the exit ramp, John, you're getting in the way," Raven said as she shouldered past him with a rough shove. John watched her go, admiring the way she looked. She had such an air of confidence about her these days, and the way her leather outfit hugged her body…

John shook his head to shake out those thoughts before following her down the ramp towards the aircars hoping they could find a taxi before they were all gone. His fear was alleviated when he saw his mother standing next to the family aircar with a smile on her face. "Welcome home!" she said as she gave her son a hug. Raven looked around the loading area, her eyes searching for something she'd never find. "I'm sorry, Raven," Hannah Shepard said, "your father couldn't get time off of work to come pick you up. Steven tried to be here too, but Terran High Command has them running war-games this whole month. Everyone's stuck at base until after they're done, and that includes General Roland who's overseeing the exercises."

"Yeah," Raven replied casually, "he always has an excuse, doesn't he?"

"Raven, that's not fair…" Hannah began.

"With all due respect, Misses Shepard, but yes it is. Do you know what his excuse for not coming to see me graduate was? He didn't have one," Raven said. "Instead, he had some lackey with a rank in place of his name send me a message because he couldn't even do that much himself."

"Let it go, mom," John whispered as Raven threw her bags into the backseat of the car before throwing herself in after them. "He really messed up with that one," John continued as he placed his own bags in the back storage area to buy time to explain, all the while speaking in hushed whispers. "The message he sent wasn't even written by him. It was one of those blank templates the military uses that has 'insert name here' everywhere a name goes, and, to make it worse, he even managed to leave one of those spaces blank so there was no doubting what it really was.

"He essentially sent her the same thing they used to send the families of soldiers back in the Earth Age; the letters telling them that their son or daughter died in the war but that they should be proud because their child served with pride and distinction. You know, the ones that were delivered by taxi drivers because the military couldn't even show up in person? At least Dad called me right after the ceremony was over to say he was sorry he couldn't make it. She didn't even get that much. He broke her heart, mom. This time was just the last straw… I mean, how can a father do that to his own child?"

"I… had no idea," Hannah replied.

"Just don't mention it, and, whatever you do, **never** defend him. She'll probably glue you to the ceiling for a few days if you do," John added sternly before giving his mom another hug and climbing into the car. "Speaking of which, when do the war-games end?"

"Tuesday of next week," Hannah replied as she powered up the car.

"Today's Friday," Raven pointed out.

"Yeah, I mean next, next Tuesday," Hannah clarified.

"When did they start?" John asked.

"First of the month," Hannah replied in an annoyed tone. "I've heard General Roland can be tough, but I never expected him to be like this. He's been working them so hard, I'm half afraid they're going to end up flooding the hospital needing IVs for dehydration and exhaustion."

"Wait," John said as something accrued to him. "Does that mean you finished school?"

"Yeah," Hannah replied with a smile. "Sorry I didn't tell you, but you were working on finishing your own stuff and I didn't want to bother you."

"Oh come on, mom!" John said as he elbowed her playfully. "You graduated from advanced medical school! That's great news!"

"Are you a doctor then?" Raven asked, her mood lightening as she allowed her father's absence to fade from her mind. It's not like it was the first time he had failed to show up to an event that mattered to her.

"Not for another week or two. I'm classified as a nurse until they get the last of the paperwork filled out. For now I'm the head nurse, I do all the scheduling and stuff, so I'm doing better than when I started out, but I'm not a doctor yet."

"And to think," Raven said with a sarcastic scuff, "all that schooling you got on Earth meant nothing more than 'nurse' to them."

"Can't say I blame them," Hannah replied. "I may know how to stitch up a wound and diagnose most medical issues, but nowadays you have to know how to reattach a limb to be a doctor. Failing that, you have to know how to take the measurements needed to clone a limb incase an amputation is necessary and you have to know how to sow nerves back together so that the new limb works properly. Going back through medical school to get my advanced degree was my choice anyway. If I hadn't, I would've been an old-school doctor and that doesn't pay as much as my current job, let alone when I actually get my new position."

"What's going to be your new title?" John asked.

"I'll be the head of Mindoir High Command's entire medical unit. Everything from the R&D nuts to the actual doctors," Hannah replied.

"That must've pissed a few people off," John noted.

"The can't complain," Hannah laughed. "I'm the only one with a high enough degree to hold the position and Admiral Hackett himself okayed the appointment. Anyone with complaints has to take it up with him. Needless to say, no one's complaining."

"Is he really that bad?" John asked.

"Admiral Hackett is a great man," Hannah replied, "but he's rigid, and rightfully so. Like most of the higher-ups in the Alliance chain of command, he's a veteran of World War III, but, unlike the others, he's the only one to have served as a common foot soldier, a squad leader, and a fleet admiral. That makes him uniquely qualified to hold the position he does, but, as always, there's more to him than meets the eye. The man was appointed by General O'Neill before the Fall of Earth. The General could've just as easily taken the position himself, he was actually supposed to, but he handed the job off to Hackett because he was more qualified in the General's opinion."

"That says a lot," Raven commented.

"Indeed it does," Hannah agreed.

"Why did you leave the military though?" Raven asked. "You were an MD before the Fall of Earth, right?"

"Amy," John replied with a shrug. "When she was born, mom took it as a sign to settle down. Dad did too, but that meant a desk job for him as opposed to retirement. For mom it meant a job that didn't involve as much traveling."

"Oh, and you missed her birthday," Hannah added randomly.

"She's only six, mom, she'll survive me missing one birthday and it's not like she turned eighteen or one of those other pivotal ages," John countered.

"She'll still be happy to see you," Hannah insisted.

"My sister freaks every time she sees me, mom. I'm used to it by now," John echoed the words he had told Kasumi nearly a year ago when he was last home.

*Konstante (Shepard Residence) [day twelve]*

"What are you up to, son?" General Shepard asked as he stepped outside to find his son floating above the lawn with a ring of stones revolving around him like a miniature solar system.

"Playing with Amy," John replied.

"I'm flying, daddy!" Amy giggled as she floated past her dad.

"Oh, your mother's not gonna like this," Steven said in a tone of worry.

"What mommy doesn't know won't get me grounded," Amy said as she drifted past him again.

"Jonathan Anderson Shepard! What have you been teaching your sister?"

"Hey now!" John replied with a look of innocence, "I didn't teach her that!"

"Your middle name is Anderson?" Raven asked, her voice coming from above them.

All three Shepards looked up to find Raven floating down to land beside them. "What of it?" John asked.

"Nothing," Raven replied with a shrug.

"Rrrriiiigggghhhhtttt," John replied sarcastically.

"Am I the only one weirded out right now?" Steven asked.

"Yes," Raven and John replied in unison.

"That was cool!" Amy added, her feet firmly planted on the ground as John was no longer floating her around with the rocks, they themselves now holding still and not moving in their orbit any longer.

"It's a common enough ability for an Adept," John explained. "Vanguards Charge, Adepts fly, Sentinels… have really, really good barriers," he added with a shrug.

"Okay… well… it's time for school, Amy," Steven said as he led his daughter back inside.

"But I wanna stay and play!" Amy argued as she pulled against her father's grip.

"John will be home tonight, you can play then if he's willing," Steven replied. "Now come on, there's only a few weeks left in school before you're out for the summer. You'll have plenty of time to play then."

"So what have you been up to?" John asked once the two were alone.

"What do you mean?" Raven replied.

"I haven't seen you in nearly a week," John said. In his mind, he was hoping she didn't catch the full implication of the question.

"Oh, that," Raven shrugged. "I've been trying to create a biotic field powerful enough to stop light rays."

"Still idolizing Cerberus' Sirens?" John teased.

"Their skills, sure, but they're just terrorists these days," Raven replied with a knowing smile.

The night before they graduated, the entire class of BAaTs had been informed of the Alliance's greatest secret; Cerberus wasn't a rogue black ops organization after all, and several of the more promising young biotics had been invited to join the elite organization that protected the Alliance from the shadows, Raven and John included. That was a decision they hadn't made on the spot; the recruiter had impressed upon them the need to think it over and had even explained that they would have to 'die in the eyes of the public' to be made members. Needless to say, they were giving it the proper amount of thought and it was an open-ended invitation so…

"What about you?" Raven asked.

"Just practicing fine control," John replied as he waved an arm and the rocks started rotating again, but at a much faster rate. "I've managed to lift a child without breaking it!" he added with laugh. It was an ongoing joke between them. John's fine-tuned control needed a little more fine-tuning; he had force and power, but no sense of subtly. Raven was the opposite. Her control was nearly absolute and that compensated for any lack of power she had.

"So, I got bored the other day and decided to go looking for something to do," Raven said as she reached out a hand and crushed one of the rocks floating around John with a biotic field of her own.

"And I wasn't the first person on your mind?" John asked with a fake tone of hurt… one that wasn't entirely fake. "Kasumi then?"

"Actually, I left town and found someone new. Her name's Tina. You should meet her," Raven said with a sly smile.

"Why?" John asked skeptically.

"She's actually more violent natured than the two of you combined," Steven said as he stepped outside again.

"You've met her?" Raven asked with a tone of interest.

"She… uh…" the aging General said as he rubbed the back of his neck. "She designs explosives for the AAF. She's never worked on anything big like the Striker Missile project, but she's done wonders to increase the power of our anti-personal hand grenades. She made cluster grenades that are easily handled for the average Soldier and even managed to capture the essence of some of the more simplistic biotic fields in hand-portable grenades. I think her biggest project so far was when I asked her how she would best defend her home. A clean twenty-percent of Mindoir's existing defense grid was redone based off of the suggestions of a twelve year old girl."

"That… doesn't surprise me even in the slightest," Raven replied with a chuckle. Looking over to John, who looked utterly confused, Raven added, "Like I said, you'd like her," with a mischievous smile.

"Sounds like my kind of girl!" John said with a laugh.

"She's only twelve," Steven stressed, "and we need to set some ground rules before you go running around causing trouble. First, Tina lives where she does because her… experiments aren't always stable so keep her where she is. She likes it out there where she's isolated so don't worry about her asking to come into town; she's not exactly the sociable type when it come to large settlements. Second, I expect you to either be home by eleven, or I expect you to call and say you're going to be late by ten. Your mother doesn't need to have a heart attack thinking you've gone off and gotten yourself blown up. Third, never leave home without this," the General said as he tossed each of the two teenagers a small box.

It was small enough to fit comfortably in both hands, but heavy enough to hint at its importance. Pulling one of the ends of the ribbon tied on the top to form a bow, John let the blue strand lay loosely in his hand as he picked at the blue wrapping paper beneath. Beside him, Raven copied his every move with a purple box. Just as John was about to expose the box beneath the wrappings, Steven took both of the boxes back and switched them around.

"Sorry, wrong box to the wrong person," he said in explanation.

"You didn't," Raven said in a tone of shock as she exposed the label on the box. "You didn't!"

"You did!" John countered as the brand-new, never-before-opened box was revealed, a picture of a biotic amp on the side and a label reading HMBA MASTER GEAR: VANGUARD. Below that was the Roman Numeral IX. "How did you get your hands on two, let alone one, of the single most expensive piece of equipment to be produced for biotics?"

"I didn't," Steven replied with a smile. "I got two of the **second** most expensive pieces of equipment to be produced for biotics, and I got it for a good price… all things considered."

"I'd ask, but I don't think I want to know," John replied with a sense of awe as he opened the box to find the small amp located within. "It's smaller than the ones the Alliance gave us," he noted. "That'll take some getting used to."

Raven was busy reading the stats on the piece of technology that had skyrocketed in capabilities in the past year alone. There were three lines of amps to be produced by the HMBA R&D group on Plains of Ida; the Basic, Advanced, and Master lines with each one better than the last and each variation unique to the biotic classification of the specialists. It went along with the color as well. Soldiers were red, Adepts blue, and Combat Engineers yellow. When they were mixed, Vanguards were purple, Sentinels were green, and Infiltrators were orange. The color of the ribbon and paper on the boxes, therefore, was as significant as the amp within as the purple box was meant for Vanguards and the blue was meant for Adepts.

"Thirty, thirty- five, forty," she said with a sense of awe. "That's almost as good as the Asari's Savant X amp." The numbers represented the potential gain in the areas of power, duration, and cool down, but only a trained biotic could truly understand what the numbers **really** meant. To say it was difficult to understand would be an understatement.

"And it's only a IX," John agreed.

"I couldn't afford two Xs," Steven said with a shrug. "Consider that your birthday and Christmas presents from now until you're twenty-two. I know you're both hell-bent on being in the military, and I've been in long enough to know that the only way you'd get one of these would be to kill someone with it. The way I figure, I'm investing in your lives and the Alliance's continued existence at the same time."

"You could've gotten him an X, I wouldn't have complained," Raven said as she held the amp in her hand with a sense of trepidation.

"I know," Steven said with a soft smile, "but I have two biotics to look after, as far as I'm concerned, now bring it in," he added with a gesture of his arms. John didn't hesitate and was immediately embracing his father with a tight hug that only took up half of his body. Steven stood there, one arm around his son and the other still outstretched. "A double-armed gesture means I expect two hugs," Steven said simply.

Raven looked up from the amp in her hand with a look on her face that Steven couldn't quite figure. He almost expected her to turn and run, the way tears were threatening to form in her eyes, but, instead, she crossed the three or four yards that separated them in a single step that had her impacting his body with a small, jarring hit that definitely bruised his ribcage. With her face buried in his shirt, Steven could feel the small areas that were rapidly growing wetter. With a smile of contentment, he wrapped his arm around Raven and gladly included her in the family moment.

}{ }{ }{ }{ }{ }{ }{ }{ }{ }{ }{ }{ }{

Chitika von Paws

*Konstante (Konstante High: Science Lab) [day fourteen]*

"There you are!" The voice came from the door, loud and booming, and Tali looked up from her workbench to see a face smiling at her from across the room. "We've been looking everywhere for you! The games are about to begin!"

"Is it that time already?" Tali asked as she looked down at her chronometer. "Bosh'tet!" Tali cursed to herself as she grabbed a portable Omni-welder and followed the other girl out of the room. "I'm not even done yet!"

"Don't worry," the girl assured her, "you're facing off in the third round and we haven't started yet because you weren't present. You'll have… well, the amount of time you'll have is going to be determined by the other contestants, but, with your brain, that should be enough," the other girl assured her.

"Guide me, I'm going to keep working," Tali replied without really replying. She let the girl, whose name simply refused to come to her mind at the moment, lead her down the halls while she worked frantically on finishing her project. When they reached the gymnasium, Tali looked up and suddenly it hit her. "Thanks, Talitha," Tali said before darting off to the side and running down the stairs.

"Look who's finally here," Sammy McKay said with a warm smile lifting his lips while a flame of confidence burned in his eyes. "I was beginning to think I wouldn't have any real competition this year."

"You're going down, Pretty Boy," Tali replied with a glare, her bright eyes narrowing behind her faceplate.

"Whatever you say, Princess," McKay taunted.

Tali rolled her eyes at his nickname for her then focused on the actual matter at hand. The first two contestants were entering the battlefield and the announcer was, well, announcing.

"_Ladies and gentlemen! Boys and girls of all ages! Be you Human or Quarian, I welcome you to the second annual Konstante High School Rroboooo Rrrrrrrrumbleee!"_ The crowd cheered at his words as a large, walking robot about the size of an average-height Human or Quarian stepped into the rink. _"In this corner, we have the ever fierce Herman fielding his repaired, and, hopefully, drastically altered, Higgins Droid V2!"_ the bipedal robot, at the prompting of its creator, raised a hand to incite cheers from the crowd. A small object falling from the ceiling and landing with a thud brought an end to the cheers as the announcer continued._ "And in this corner we have the return of the reigning King of the Destruction of all things Robotic! Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for the return of LOKI!"_

The crowd cheered again, far louder this time, as the robot raised from its compacted state. It was also bipedal, but this one was controlled by the son of a Human whose name was known to every alien species in the galaxy despite humanity's largely isolated nature. Sammy McKay stepped forward and pressed a button on his Omni-tool. The moment he did, the mech before him let out an electrical sound and a holographic interface spread out from Sammy's boots until it encased his entire body. The holograms shifted as he moved and the robot mirrored his every action.

"Clearly you've improved the interface from last year," Tali called out to him.

Sammy looked over his shoulder and winked in reply before assuming a battle stance. _"Let the rumbling… __begin__!"_

The two bipedal robots were immediately moving forward as their creators prompted them forward. Higgins was the first to strike, a pistol being pulled from its hip as he opened fire. Ducking under the line of bullets and letting what few did hit impact his barrier, LOKI slide on the ground, McKay doing the same, as was his way of controlling his droid, and kicked Higgins' legs out from under him before spinning to his feet and delivering a blow to the robot's mid section that caved in the armored plating there. Higgins managed to kick LOKI off of him, but the damage was done. The part of the CPU that controlled his aiming algorithms was damaged beyond combat-repair and LOKI was already recovering from minor the blow he had taken.

Higgins managed to get to his feet before taking a blow to the head that caused the servomotors in his neck to fritz and spark in protest much as an organic's bones and muscles would've done the same. Higgins recovered and attempted to return the favor, but Sammy hopped back and the punch missed its target. A swift knee to the already dented chest plate caused the optics on Higgins to dim before a roundhouse kick decapitated the robot. Higgins' head impacted the barrier that separated the dangers of the sport from the crowd before falling to the ground with another spark of electronics.

"_And we have a winner!"_ the announcer shouted to the crowd. _"The defending champ makes his stance clear. He's back and he's here to win it all again!"_

Sammy sauntered back over to Tali with a smile, LOKI following behind him with the same sway to his step. "I hope you've improved your design from last year."

"You'll see soon enough," Tali countered as she finished the last modification she needed to make. "I'm ready."

"Not yet," Sammy countered. "Next is Lucas versus some new guy from Terra Nova."

"Who am I facing for the Preliminaries?" Tali asked.

"Don't know the name," Sammy replied with a shrug. "It's some kid from Plains of Ida."

"Great," Tali said, rolling her eyes. "I have to fight a completely unknown enemy. You got lucky, Pretty Boy, fighting someone you've already beaten."

"Lucky? Sure, but am I happy with it? No, I would've preferred an unknown challenger. You know, an actual **challenge**. He may have renamed the bot, but Higgins was the same as last year. Herman didn't even bother to move his CPU pieces around so I knew exactly where to hit him."

"_Let the rumbling… __begin__!"_ the announcer declared as two more opponents geared up for the fight.

One of them was fielding a small, dog-like robot that was going up against one that had wheels instead of legs. The dog-bot dashed out, its four legs propelling it forward at an astounding speed when one considered the design of the body. The wheeled robot reared back and tore its own left arm off at the elbow to reveal a long blade with a vicious curve to it. The wheeled robot swung as the dog-bot jumped at it, but the blade missed its target by mere centimeters when the dog-bot did a mid-air barrel roll and crashed into the wheeled robot with enough force to knock it over.

The flat face of the dog-bot glowed a brilliant color of blue before a pulse of energy washed over the downed robot like a blast of lightning. The CPU flickered and died and the dog-bot trotted back its creator with an air of confidence… confidence that was, literally, cut short when the wheeled robot's CPU rebooted before the blade in its arm was shot forward and impaled the dog-bot from behind. The arm-blade, still attached by a chain, then retracted and the dog was brought over to the wheeled robot that then proceeded to deploy another blade from its other hand and stab the dog-bot in the face.

"_An unexpected turn of events, but a victory nonetheless!"_ the announcer said. _"Next we have a new comer from the Plains of Ida versus a returning finalist, the only person to have stood against the Indomitable LOKI and lasted for more than a minute. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Tali'Zorah nar _Rayya_ and her very own…"_

"Chitika von Paws," Tali loudly proclaimed when the announcer paused.

With an air of confidence, Tali stepped forward into the rink and faced her opponent. She was surprised to see it was another Quarian she was facing, but that didn't faze her. It had been nearly a year since the Quarians had moved in with the Alliance and her people were spread out across half a dozen worlds, all of which had the lowest levels of foreign pollutants the Humans could offer them. Plains of Ida, as she understood it, was almost as much of a paradise as Arcadia, though she only knew what she heard in rumors from the Humans. Needless to say, both planets were considered to be paradises comparable to some famous chain of islands on the Human homeworld.

"Say hello to Atom," the Quarian said to her as his robot stepped out of the shadows behind him.

Tali had to fight back the urge to run, though her body did grow really tense at the sight of the thing. It looked like a heavily armed Geth had just walked into the high school. Needless to say, she was not happy with the boy's chosen design, and she was not alone. Nearly everyone in the crowd was openly booing the boy who had brought the Geth-look-alike to their world, but they couldn't disqualify him based off of how the robot looked.

"Atom, huh?" Tali asked casually as she opened her Omni-tool and took a picture of the robot. Father would want to know about this. Even if the school couldn't disqualify him from the Rumble, the Admirals wouldn't be happy with any Quarian that essentially recreated a Geth platform. "I'd like for you to meet Chitika von Paws." Another push on her Omni-tool spawned her latest creation; the one-hundred-percent man-portable hard-light Combat Drone.

"Just a floating ball of light?" the other Quarian asked. "What a waste of my time."

"If that's the way you feel," Tali replied with a casual shrug. "Go for the optics Chitika!" Tali ordered and the little ball of light shot forward faster than the dog-bot had ran, a micro, flash-forged Mass Effect core propelling it to great speeds. With a crackle of electricity and a discharge of pent-up power trapped in her capacitors, Chitika blasted the would-be-Geth with enough force to knock it off balance. Another blast struck shortly afterwards followed by two more before Chitika swerved away to avoid the Geth's counterassault.

An assault rifle was pulled from the Geth's back as the look-a-like began spraying the area with bullets in an attempt to hit the fast moving ball of hard-light. The few shots that the inaccurate fire managed to land ricocheted off of Chitika's armor with no need for a barrier, the smooth curves of her frame simply reflected the energy naturally.

The hard-light drone shifted color as her two inner rings spun within each other. One was purple, the other a pinkish color, and each housed a different weapon. The purple orb shifted back as the pink orb took the front. It wasn't a real switch, just a shifting of the colors to indicate a change in the programming. Nevertheless, a new weapon had been selected. Flash-forged micro-rockets shot out of Chitika's weapon port and slammed into the barriers of the would-be-Geth, but the other bot wasn't so easily beaten.

With a whir of electrical energy, a bolt of pure lightning shot out of the Geth's wrist and overloaded Chitika's materialization programming. The other Quarian smirked behind his own faceplate as his creation began to try and incite cheers from the crowd. Instead, it only received boos… and a rocket to its back. With its barrier already down, the rocket obliterated the upper half of the Geth's body.

Almost immediately after having been destroyed, Tali had redeployed the hard-light drone from her Omni-tool. "That's cheating!" the Quarian boy shouted in protest.

"_On the contrary,"_ the announcer countered in a tone of indifference, _"a bot is only declared dead if its CPU is incapable of operating. Those are the rules, and clearly Chitika von Paws' CPU is still operational. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the winner of Round Three; Tali'Zorah nar _Rayya_! Not that any of us are actually surprised,"_ the announcer, who was also a Quarian, added with a wink.

"Technically it's Tali'Zorah nar Konstante now," Tali pointed out, but nobody could to hear her over the thunderous roar of applause. She wasn't the only one who wanted the Geth-look-a-like gone.

The Rumble continued for a full eight rounds before the Preliminaries were done, then the Semi-Finals began. Four rounds later and it was down to the Finals and the last two standing were Tali and Sammy. No one was really surprised at that outcome.

"_We've got a rematch a whole year in the making on our hands, my good people! Last year's finalists have returned to settle the score!"_ The crowd cheered like crazy as Tali walked across the battlefield, which was now covered in scrap parts from broken robots, and stood across from Sammy who was smiling at her with a shit-eating grin. _"Who will win? The Indomitable LOKI, or that loveable little ball of hard-light we've all come to love so much? Now, there is one stipulation I have to add to this. The judges have convened and have an announcement of their own to make."_

A new voice picked up where the announcer left off. _"If Tali'Zorah's Omni-tool houses_ _Chitika's CPU, then the destruction of her Omni-tool would be the only way to defeat Chitika. Miss Zorah, you have two choices. Either surrender your physical self to possible harm as Chitika's CPU is targeted, or agree that the destruction of Chitika's physical form will be counted as a victory for your opponent."_

"I'll take my chances," Tali replied confidently.

She knew Sammy well enough to know that LOKI was incapable of hurting anyone. Even if he was controlling the robot himself, the moment that LOKI's metal fist threatened to make contact with living tissue, a subroutine would prevent the full-force of the robot's strength from being available, and, while she was sure that Sammy could easily override that, she also knew that he never would. It would take one hell of an emergency for him to allow his creation to be used as a weapon of war.

"_Very well then. The rules are to be amended as such,"_ the announcer picked up his job again. _"Sammy, you and LOKI are allowed to target Tali's Omni-tool with any attacks you feel are appropriate to achieve victory. Be a dear and do try not break her. Let the rumble… __begin__!"_

Chitika popped out of Tali's Omni-tool and rose up to stand in defense of her. LOKI reached down to his side and drew his weapons, a pair of submachineguns that had gone unused during all of his previous engagements; neither of them would be holding back now. Chitika chirped at Tali and Tali nodded in reply. "Don't worry, Chitika. We'll get them this time."

"That sounds like a challenge, Tali. Are you sure you're ready for this?" Sammy taunted.

"Such big words for such a small **boy**," Tali replied darkly.

Sammy smirked in response before raising both hands and opening fire. Unlike the Geth-look-alike, LOKI had exceptional aim. However, Tali, like Sammy, was never one to put all her cards on the table until she had to. Chitika pulsed brighter before a barrier snap-formed into place before both her and Tali, the wall of energy easily stopping the bullets from reaching either of them.

Chitika shifted again as she armed her rocket launcher and unleashed a swarm of explosive micro-projectiles. Sammy ducked, rolled, and dodged the bulk of them, LOKI copying his every move, but, in the end, the sheer volume of rockets proved to be too much. LOKI took a rocket to his barrier as he stood up from a roll and was slammed into the wall behind him. In an instant Chitika was on top of him, her pulse emitter quickly frying the individual emitters that sustained his barrier.

Tali managed to fry about half of the emitters before LOKI recovered and unleashed a full-bodied pulse of his own. Chitika flinched back, her form flickering as her systems attempted to stabilize. Sammy didn't give her the chance. With a single punch, LOKI shattered Chitika's physical form and Tali's Omni-tool beeped that it had entered its cool down cycle.

Tali looked up to meet Sammy's eyes, to judge his next move, and barely managed to roll out of the way of the Overload that LOKI sent her way. "So you did give him more weapons," Tali more said than asked.

"You expected anything less of me?" Sammy replied.

"No, but you really need to stop underestimating me," Tali challenged as she deployed Chitika again. "Divide and conquer!" she ordered as she simply ducked under the next attack, a well aimed, but slow moving, Incendiary mine.

Chitika chirped in reply before fracturing into two drones, one of them pink, the other purple. The purple drone shot forward and circled around LOKI to get in close enough to hit the bipedal droid with her shock cannon while the pink one started launching missiles en mass.

LOKI's barrier, already half weakened by the lack of emitters, barely held against the blasts that caused the robot to stumble. Behind him, Chitika-One continued the task of blasting the emitters with enough power to fry them. Ninety-five percent of LOKI's emitter grid was destroyed before LOKI used his pulse weapon again and shattered Chitika-One's physical form. Chitika-Two, however, now had the advantage of maneuverability combined with LOKI's now virtually nonexistent barrier grid.

"Either your reflexes need more fine-tuning, or your pulse weapon needs a shorter cool down cycle," Tali said in a scholarly tone. Sammy growled in reply before LOKI started running at Tali with the obvious intent of getting in close enough to use that pulse weapon on her Omni-tool. Tali wasn't about to let that happen, and neither was Chitika-Two.

A well aimed rocket impacted the knee joint of LOKI's left leg and left the robot grounded, but not for long. Sammy hit a button on his interface and LOKI stood up on his hands and continued to run as if there were no difference. That idea was put to rest when Chitika-Two severed LOKI's right arm at the shoulder. With his mobility now gone, Sammy grit his teeth before turning to Tali with a look of defeat in his eyes.

"I surrender," he begrudgingly admitted. From the look in his eyes, Tali could tell that the mere thought had already made his blood boil. The fact that he was really beat… Sammy was not happy.

"I accept," Tali said before Chitika-Two snapped out of existence, "and I'll take my prize as well," she declared as she walked over to LOKI and assumed control of his remaining processes.

"_Ladies and gentlemen, I can't believe it's happened, but we have a new champion!"_ the announcer declared as Tali stood in the center of the rink and smiled behind her helmet.

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Chasing Dreams

*Konstante (Konstante High: History Class) [day twenty]*

Kasumi let out a sigh as her history teacher droned on at the front of the room. She wasn't necessarily knocking history, stories of Earth before the Fall always thrilled her, but she was getting antsy. She had a B-minus in this class, and, to make matters worse, John and Raven would be leaving soon. It had been just over a year since the opening of the Vaults and they had spent a full two month with no school to help the newcomers settle in, but now they were back in school, and, even with summer break just around the corner, there was only a few months before John and Raven turned eighteen and ran off to join the Alliance Armed Forces.

Kasumi let out another sigh and let her eyes drift away from the light-board and across the room to fall on the gorgeous backside of the head of one James Vega, a young man so unbelievably sexy that even the back of his head was irresistible. The tattoo pocking up just above his collar didn't help make it easier to look away. Nevertheless, Kasumi shook her head and tried to focus. She used to have an A-plus in this course before James got transferred to her class. Her Pre-calculus grade was starting to be effected too, and the only reason she wasn't failing that was because she made of point of being good enough to justify her tutoring James. It was just too bad that he only let her tutor him **at** school.

Another sigh and Kasumi's attention shifted back to the board as she tried her best to focus on the meta… meso… something-or-other era. Whatever it was, they were horribly primitive creatures from way-back-when before the Earth Age made everything look so far away to them. They had lived on the colonies for nearly six years now and it felt like this life was all Kasumi knew. She couldn't remember what Earth looked like, though she heard it varied from the harsh conditions of planets like Pandora to the tropical weather patters of planets like Arcadia. She didn't really doubt that. Otherwise Humans wouldn't have adapted as well to those worlds as they did. As for Kasumi, she wanted to leave the boring landscape of Mindoir, the planet where nothing ever happened, and go see Arcadia, Pandora, Reach, Terra Renatus… the list went on, but she wanted to see it all with James… and James just wanted to be old enough to join the Marines.

The teacher asked a question, one that Kasumi didn't catch, and one of the Quarians immediately answered with the right question. Kasumi hated them for that. They knew Human history better than she did, although she was quite excited about the fact that Quarian history had become a separate class taught by a Quarian scholar. The class was optional, but it was a great class to take because their history was so unknown and so interesting as a result. Essentially relearning what she already knew bored Kasumi, but Quarian history? That was an entirely new story, one straight from a Sci-Fi film, and she excelled in that class… mainly because James wasn't taking it.

This time Kasumi resisted the urge to sigh and forced her mind to focus on what was actually written on the board as opposed to just the glowing screen covered in scribble marks. Her attention was shattered again when a very violent impact shook the wall that had the small window on it. She couldn't see outside of the window from where she sat. It was small and she was at the wrong angle, but that didn't really matter. Whatever was happening was determined to be known. With a thunderous crash the wall caved in, bricks and insulation being forced through to the other side as a streak of blue blurred across the room, barely skimming over the tallest student's head, before three bodies impacted the far wall with tremendous force.

One of the bodies was driven into the wall by a hand wrapped around its throat, but the other two shook off the impact force before continuing their struggle. One of them was an alien, no doubt about that, but the other was…

"John!" Raven shouted from the hole in the wall where she stood there, a shimmering barrier blocking an onslaught of little flashing lights like a fireworks display.

It kind of looked like she was trying to put on a show, so Kasumi assumed the two were pulling a prank before leaving to go out to boot camp. That idea left her head when John turned to the alien behind him and held up his hand, blue light dancing furiously around his fingers. With a roar of raw emotions, anger mixed with grief, pain, and unbearable loss, John threw his hand forward and the alien moved at his command. With enough force to coat the entire wall with a new lair of organic paint, John splattered the alien across the far wall before delivering a glowing uppercut to the one still half pinned in the wall.

As the alien's neck snapped like a twig, John turned to the hole in the wall where Raven was struggling to hold off a number of aliens with guns. "John!" Raven shouted again as a rocket impacted her barrier and brought the girl to her knees.

He was there in a flash of light and a blur of motion, his body glowing like a demigod as he slammed one hand into the brick wall of the school. A blast of biotic energy forced the bricks forward at incredible speeds. Another fist shoved forwards and the faintly glowing bricks exploded at the same moment that they impacted the aliens as if John had managed to turn a swarm of bricks into a cluster-bomb.

Through the now sizable hole in the wall, Kasumi could make out the pillars of smoke rising from the edge of the city and the ships that were dropping out of the clouds. Even as the fighters wove through the air, firing all the while, the ships got lower, their barriers rippling as weapons fire bounced harmlessly off of the protective bubble of energy.

"John!" Raven shouted for a third time as the boy in question streaked away.

"What the hell's going on here?" the history teacher shouted at the young girl.

"Get these people to the evacuation shelters. We're under attack!" Raven shouted in reply before running after Jonathan.

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A Father's Love

***Konstante (City Interior) [day twenty: a few minutes earlier]***

Raven wasn't running, that would be too slow. She was flying through the sky, her stomach so close to the rooftops that she could feel the heat radiating off of them from the sun shinning brightly above them. Even with the summer sun, the sky was darkened by the large ship descending from orbit. It wasn't Alliance, and it wasn't a warship, but it was coming right for them and that was enough to cause a panic.

Raven's flight-or-fight instinct was running at full strength. Something was wrong, that much was clear, but she knew the General was still at home. It was his day off, his one day to relax that he got every three months, and he needed to make it to his command before anything could be done. The only other person who could lead their defense was General Roland and Raven simply refused to trust that man with her life, let alone anyone else's. He had already proven himself undeserving of that level of trust on more than one occasion.

There it was, finally insight, but it wasn't what she wanted to see. It was almost as if they knew who lived here…

The General's house was already surrounded by drop pods, Batarian shock troopers pouring out, and there was the man himself fighting off an entire squad with only one gun, a few clips, and limited cover. It was a fight he was doomed to loose, and Raven couldn't move any faster. She arrived only in time to swoop down and grab the General in a biotic field before sailing off down the block. She landed a few streets down the block and set the General on the ground as easily as she could.

"Raven," he half-whispered/half-croaked, his voice weak and his body bleeding from several wounds.

"Hold on," Raven replied as she pulled a handful of packets of medi-gel from her pocket; the pilot had said he hoped she didn't need them, but he was right to give them to her. Raven was just about to apply the life-saving gel, but he stopped her with one hand raised to clasp her wrist.

"Listen to me," he said, all the conviction you'd expect from a military man in his tone. "There isn't any hope left for me, even a blind man can tell that. Don't waste what you have on a lost cause. There are others that will need it more." Then his face relaxed and his tone shifted as he pulled Raven down closer to him. "I know you, Raven," he said in a much softer tone. "You've always… always been there, even if it wasn't by choice. I want you… to know…"

"Please, let me help you," Raven begged, her tears so close to falling that she couldn't see straight.

"Raven… he never stopped caring, know that much. When your mother died, it killed a part of him, but that doesn't mean he stopped caring."

"Don't…" Raven cried, "don't waste your strength defending him."

"Raven," Steven said as he stroked her face softly, "you never… you were never alone. Just… just know that… in my eyes… I've always had two… two daughters."

"Please, let me help you," Raven cried again.

"I love you," Steven whispered as his hand went limp around her wrist and his arm fell back to lay at his side.

"No!" Raven cried as she lay her head down on his blood-soaked chest and let the tears run free. Her heart wasn't breaking… it had just shattered.

A sharp pain woke Raven from her stupor and she reached down to hold her ribcage that felt as if it were on fire. She raised it to her face and noted the blood that wasn't there before then looked up to see a Batarian standing over her with his Omni-tool glowing. She looked down again and noted the blade sticking out of her ribs. A small cluster of them having been deflected into the ground by her barrier, but not all of them.

"Why are you doing this?" Raven asked, her voice weak, her face streaked with tears, and her body shaking with a combination of loss and rage.

"Biotics are more trouble than they're worth," the Batarian replied as he raised his sidearm.

"And the rest of the colony?" Raven asked. "What did any of us ever do to you?"

"Die, Human," the Batarian replied. He pulled the trigger and his bullet bounced off of Raven's barrier. He fired until his gun overheated then readied his assault rifle. Raven never gave him a chance to use it. With a single, backhanded swipe of her arm, she let an ark of razor-sharp biotic energy sever his head. His body collapsed to the ground and another, standing behind him, raised his own weapon to fire.

A thud in the air made him stumble as a pair of hands twisted his neck at an unnatural angle and the Batarian fell to the ground as dead as his partner. In his place stood Jonathan Shepard who was already covered in a light spatter of blood that definitely wasn't Human, though he did have wounds of his own that were still bleeding.

"John," Raven said, her voice low. "I'm so sorry. I wasn't fast enough…"

She trailed off as John knelt down beside her and pulled the blade out of her ribcage before applying a pack of medi-gel. Raven looked at him, she met his eyes and, in that instant, she knew. Without him ever releasing a single moan, groan, growl, or other verbal utterance, Raven knew then and there, beyond all doubt, that every last Batarian on Mindoir was going to die a painful death and the ones who were unfortunate enough to face off against the enraged biotic teenager were going to be the few who died without having a chance at fighting back.

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A Maternal Instinct

*Konstante (Konstante High: Applied Physics Class) [day twenty]*

The evacuation alarm had been sounded and people were running for the doors, but not everybody was big enough to withstand the pressure. Tali stumbled in the halls as she was pushed and raced forward, but she wasn't even worried about herself at this point. She, alone, had seen it when Sammy tripped and he was half trampled when she finally caught up to him. She scooped him up in her arms and shouldered her way through a door into a class that was already empty. With a heave of effort she laid Sammy on the teacher's desk and took stock of his wounds with a medical scanner in her Omni-tool.

"You're going to be okay, but we need to keep moving," Tali assured him.

"I… I can't…" Sammy groaned as he held his ribs and tried to breath easy. "I can't breath," he finally wheezed out.

Tali heard the sound of approaching footsteps coming from the wrong side to be someone entering through the door and looked up to find a Batarian holding a shotgun standing before her with the barrel leveled at her chest. "Damn Quarians!" the Batarian shouted. "You and your ilk started all this!" he snarled. It was then that Tali noticed that the man already had several bullet wounds in his chest.

Very discretely she moved her arm so that it was under the teacher's desk. She operated her Omni-tool with a professional ease born of years of use and ran a scan. His barriers were down, his system was flooded with drugs to keep him alive, and he was unsteady on his feet.

"You're blaming us because the Humans saved our mining fleet from your damned slavers?" Tali challenged, her voice oddly level considering the weapon pointed at her lightly-shielded chest. She was just a civilian, yes, but she was the daughter of a Quarian Admiral. That had its benefits… it also had its down-sides.

"You're the ones who came into **our** space, vermin!" the Batarian shouted as his finger tightened on the trigger.

The bang of the shotgun firing was Tali's cue. With a speed she didn't know she possessed, she ducked behind the desk, dragging Sammy down with her as she fell, and flicked out her wrist. With a snap of electronics, Chitika appeared above the desk. "Divide and conquer!" Tali ordered and the hard-light drone immediately split apart to circle the Batarian.

Blasts of electricity kept his barrier from recharging while missiles flying at him kept him moving further and further away. Tali popped up from behind the desk and grabbed a pencil from the teacher's cup on the table. With a whirring of a Mass Effect field cooling up like a spring, Tali's Omni-tool fired the pencil at the Batarian with the full force of a Carnifex heavy pistol. The pencil, unsharpened, entered the Batarian's head and exited the other side before flying through a large hole in the wall.

On a side note, Tali silently thought to herself, _'He dodged rockets pretty well for being so high on painkillers.'_

Tali ducked down again, the whole cup of pencils in hand, and readied her next projectile. She peaked over the edge of the desk and found Chitika hovering over her. Very cautiously, Tali looked around before deciding it was safe. Nevertheless, she darted forward and grabbed the Batarian's gun before darting back. With the borrowed shotgun in hand, Tali again looked over the desk and took in the view of the city as it burned in several places. For now they were alone.

"Keep watch," Tali ordered of her drone as she turned back to Sammy. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"I think my ribs are bruised," he replied tightly, "but nothing feels broken."

"We can't go back the way we came," Tali said as she noticed the hoard of people running past the door. There was no way they'd get the door open and manage to get out before being crushed by the door being shoved shut by those too panicked to realize the door was opening for a good reason, "and we can't stay here. We'll have to go that way," Tali said, indicating the hole in the wall.

"I know," Sammy replied as he opened his own Omni-tool and pressed a few buttons, "but we don't have to go alone."

The wall that connected this class to the next caved in a few seconds later and LOKI came running up to them. "Good thing we fixed him," Tali said as she examined the weapon in her hands. It was a Batarian gun which meant that it operated on an internal heat-sink and didn't have any thermal clips or even a slot for them. At least it would fire. Tali carefully snuck back over to the Batarian and grabbed his sidearm and a canteen before returning to Sammy and LOKI. She handed LOKI the pistol saying, "Can you differentiate between Human, Quarian, and Batarian bio-signatures?"

"_Affirmative,"_ LOKI replied.

"Then I hereby give you permission to kill anything Batarian," Tali said. "Can you carry him and aim at the same time?"

"_Affirmative."_

"Then let's get moving," Tali ordered as she ran over to the hole in the wall and placed her back against an intact part. Carefully she leaned out of cover and examined the street beyond. They were near the outer-most edge of the residential section of the city, and the nearest evacuation shelter was nearly ten miles away. To make matters worse, Tali could see the bus convoy already flying away. They had been left behind in hostile territory, trapped, and very poorly armed.

"If only LOKI still had his submachineguns," Sammy said from his place on LOKI's back.

"LOKI's aim with that pistol should be enough, and there's always Chitika's barrier…" Tali trailed off before returning to the Batarian and pulling the barrier generator off of his back. With a bit of fancy wiring she managed to rig the generator and some random circuitry together before fastening the whole thing to a belt that she then handed to Sammy. "That'll keep you from taking a stray or getting hit in an ambush, but it's only going to be as good as the cheapest barrier on the market.

"Thanks," Sammy replied with a small smile.

Tali simply nodded in reply before ordering, "Chitika, watch their backs." The drone chirped in reply before Tali checked her gun one last time before nodding again and darting across the street, LOKI close behind her and Chitika closely following him.

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The Guardian Angel

*Konstante (City Outskirts) [day twenty]*

"_What did you just say?"_ the Illusive Man asked, standing from his chair as a look of surprise and confusion washed over his face.

"Mindoir is under attack. Batarians; possibly slavers by the looks of them. The fleet in orbit's been engaged, but the fleet on the other side of the Relay hasn't reported anything yet. The Batarians most likely didn't come from the Relay. I'm guessing they made an extended FTL trip," Anderson replied as he ran through the streets of Konstante in search of his charge.

"_Where are they, Anderson?"_ the Illusive Man asked, his voice tight.

"I had them, but they both took off in separate directions once the fighting started. I couldn't keep up with them so I'm tracking them down as we speak," Anderson explained.

"_You find them, Anderson, and do so before they get hurt. Illusive Man out."_

Anderson didn't stop to think his orders over. He had a mission to perform, a goal to accomplish, and nothing would stand between him and his charge. He also didn't stop to think of the promise of reinforcements. Mindoir was a boarder colony, yes, but its only Relay led deeper into Alliance Territory. The Batarians hadn't used it to reach the planet which meant that they had a large convoy of supply ships with them. The problem was, the Alliance wouldn't be able to stop them from leaving. If they got here by extended FTL, that's how they would leave and they would likely do so before the Alliance could intercept them. Something had to be done.

Anderson skidded to a halt, dust kicking up around his feet as he did. He froze as a Batarian turned to him. The Batarian noted the dust and moved over to Anderson's location, but Anderson was invisible to the naked eye and he wasn't about to blow his location by moving. He waited until the Batarian was close enough then simply slipped a blade between his ribs and let his heart beat around the blade a few times, cutting the muscle to ribbons, before pulling it out and allowing his cloaking field to cover the blood on the blade. Only then did he move forward towards the Batarian who was dragging a young girl by the hair.

"Let me go!" the girl begged as she kicked and screamed and fought as hard as she could.

"Damned Humans," the Batarian growled as he slapped her across the face with his metal-encased hand. The girl went limp, most likely unconscious.

"Leave her alone!" another girl, much older, shouted as she jumped on the Batarian's back and clawed at his face. The Batarian let the younger girl go and pulled the older one off of his back before bringing his heavy boot down onto her stomach. Anderson was there the next second, his blade slicing through the Batarian's throat.

He knelt down and examined the two girls. With a sense of dread he noted that the younger wasn't unconscious, but dead. Her skull was fractured and blood ran from her head both freely and profusely. He turned to the older one and noticed her looking up at him, or, rather, **for** him. Anderson deactivated his cloak and held a finger up to the mouthpiece on his helmet, a shushing gesture that the girl replied to with a nod.

"Are you okay?" Anderson asked in a whisper. The girl nodded again. "Can you walk?" another nod. "Can you run?" a shake of the head and a suppressed cry of pain. "Take this," Anderson said as he removed his gauntlet and strapped the piece of armor that held his cloak to her forearm, "and follow me. As long as you're wearing it, they can't **see** you, but you have to be quite or they'll **hear** you." The girl nodded again as Anderson pressed the button to activate the device then held out his knife. "If anyone gets too close, you stab them, okay?"

When the knife disappeared in his hand, Anderson knew she had a hold of it. At that point, he stood up and held out his hand. When he felt her grasp, he pulled her to her feet then drew his sidearm and proceeded forward at a much slower pace than he would've liked, but he wasn't going to leave this girl to die.

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Under Pressure

*Konstante (City Interior) [day twenty]*

Shepard's fist impacted his target with enough force that he could feel the alien's chest cavity caving in as his fist continued forward despite the resistance the organic form provided against his movement. When it was imbedded half-way through the Batarian's armor, Shepard opened his fist and a pulse of energy was released that caused the Batarian to burst like a balloon as its body was pushed apart from the inside out. Shepard was numb to his own pain now. He only felt the cold hatred inside of him swelling as he continued his march through **his** city killing these damned invaders.

Long ago, or maybe very recently, it was impossible for him to tell, his clothes had been torn to the point of falling off and only his pants, ragged and coming apart at the seams, remained as a whole. His chest was half-bare, his shirt nearly nonexistent, his skin tingling, but it didn't matter. All that mattered was the next impact, the next strike, the next move, the next kill. He had to kill them all, he didn't know why, but he just had to.

Everywhere the enraged Vanguard went, Raven was behind him or above him. She never left him alone, never left his back undefended, and never left his flank exposed. She was his partner, the force that kept him alive when his own skill wasn't enough. That was their relationship in a battle. He did the close-up work and she kept the enemies off of his back. Together they formed the best biotic pair in their class and together they would cleanse Mindoir of this infestation even if it meant the destruction of a few city blocks.

To reinforce that thought, John held out his hand and warped the support struts holding a balcony up. The heavy building materials came crashing down on the Batarians taking cover behind an aircar parked beneath that balcony and Shepard added a Shockwave to the mix to be sure they died. He moved on, not bothering to look back, and searched for the next target, the next person to die, the next alien to smear across a surface.

Externally he was shimmering as his biotics flared with his emotions. Internally… a part of him was either dead, dying, or too numb to be felt at this point. All that mattered was revenge, death, destruction, and he would have them all!

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Accidental Hero

*Konstante (City Interior) [day twenty]*

Weapons fire tore through the air and Tali ducked behind cover to let her barrier regenerate. She looked down at her arm, at the breach in her suit, and cursed her stupidity as she felt a little lightheaded from the amount of antibiotics flooding her system. She leaned out of cover, her main focus the Batarian biotic who was rapidly closing distance on them, and fired two shots before ducking back behind cover as her shotgun beeped at her. Using the last of the water in her canteen as a coolant, Tali got her gun back into firing condition just in time to raise it into position as the Batarian rounded her cover with his own shotgun raised and ready.

Tali, simply because she panicked, pulled the trigger first and knocked the Batarian on his ass from the force of the blast then quickly scrambled away. She took a hit to her own barrier and stumbled under the force of the biotic attack that had hit her in the back. She rolled over and raised her gun to fire again. A sharp retort sounded from the gun as it unleashed a small swarm of lethal projectiles, all of which impacted the biotic's barrier. He smiled down at her, his helmet half missing and his face half burnt, as he raised his weapon.

Tali drew her hand back and flicked her wrist. The Batarian sidestepped the Overload, but walked directly into LOKI's waiting arms. Tali immediately sent an Incendiary mine flying at the alien's head. Now his entire face was burning as Tali's aim held true and the tech mine hit the Batarian directly in the half-burnt side of his exposed flesh. As he thrashed around, screaming in pain as LOKI let him fall to the ground, Tali pulled the trigger again and again until his barrier gave out, but her gun overheated at the same moment. With a cry of rage, she slammed the butt of her shotgun into the Batarian's face over and over until he stopped moving and, even then, she continued hitting him until LOKI took the weapon from her.

"Come on, Tali," Sammy said, hanging back behind cover with his control interface surrounding his body. "We need to keep moving!"

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Dying for a Cause

*Konstante (City Interior) [day twenty]*

The recoil from the rifle slamming back into his shoulder was a force he was well accustomed to. The flash of the barrel as the bullets left the firing chamber was a sight he was used to. The vibrations that shook his body as the gun fired round after round were a sensation he was numb to. The pain of the bullet hole in his leg was new, but the adrenaline blocked out that too.

He dropped to his knee, a rocket flying over his head, his rifle never ceasing its constant firing. His thermal clip popped out of its slot with a hiss, the glow and heat it flying over his arm was the only prompting he needed. Rounds continued to fly until the gun was beeping to warn him it was about to overheat. Popping in a fresh thermal clip only two shots from overheating the internal heat-sink, he continued firing. By the time the clip was overheated, the heat-sink was operational again. This continued for five clips before the last Batarian finally fell to his anger, but he, himself, was to follow them. He had not escaped this battle unharmed.

Only now that the adrenaline was flowing less quickly did he feel how heavy his shirt had become. Drenched in sweat, the entire garment was just a weight, a hindrance he didn't need, so he got rid of it. It was a painful move, one that brought his wounds to his attention. He looked down at his bare chest and noticed five holes in his stomach and three in his chest. The only thing that came to his mind was, _'At least they don't use the same caliber of round the Alliance does or I'd be dead already.'_

As it was, the bullets were only the size of a grain of sand and had barely left an open wound. What was really making it painful was that two of the rounds had hit the nerve center that is the solar plexus. The ones imbedded in his guts weren't even that hard to deal with, though he was sure he needed some type of medical treatment soon or he would, at the very least, suffer complications years down the road from some type of infection.

"No, not you too!" a familiar voice said from somewhere nearby. His hand was immediately on his gun again and his eyes were scanning the area. "Oh thank god!" the voice said again as a girl appeared before him. "You're not dead! Here, I have medi-gel," she said as she pulled the packets from her pockets.

"Kasumi?" James asked, his voice tired. "Is that you?"

"Yeah," she replied as she opened the packets and spread the gel over the wounds and pushed some into them for good measure. "Do you still remember your name?"

"I haven't been hit in the head… yet," he replied.

"I lost my guardian," Kasumi said as her hands started shaking. "He came under fire and I ran. I was invisible, but I still ran. I… shouldn't have left him."

"Calm down, Kasumi," James said as he got to his feet. "Where did you leave him?"

"Back that way a few blocks," she replied.

"We need to group up with whoever we can and make a break for the shelters," James said as he grabbed his thermal clips and slid them into their coolant slots. "A trained soldier would be a lot of help."

Kasumi nodded in reply, rising to her feet as well, before pressing a button on her arm and disappearing from view. "He's this way," she said as she walked off.

She was dragging her feet, the grass moving beneath her enough that James could tell where she was headed. He followed behind her, sticking to cover and waiting for her to sound an all clear before advancing. By the time they reached the last place Kasumi had seen her 'guardian' there was nothing left but bodies; all of them Batarian, and all them torn to shreds.

"A bullet that can bypass shields? Disruptor Ammo. Rounds that can smash through heavy armor? Armor-Piercing Ammo. Ammo that can burn flesh? Incendiary Rounds. A bullet that shatters on impact? Anti-Personnel Rounds. A bullet that can do all of that in one go has to be Harpoon Rounds," James said as he finished his examination. "Your guardian works for Cerberus."

"I don't care," Kasumi replied from somewhere James couldn't determine. "He saved me, that's all that matters."

A fighter above them took a GARDIAN beam to its engines and careened out of control before crashing into a tall building towards the center of the colony.

"We need to keep moving," James said as he checked his rifle and darted off down a side alley.

"Where are we going?" Kasumi asked.

"We need to find more people that are still fighting and group up then we need to find any civilians caught in the crossfire and get them to the shelters. Do you have a gun?"

"No, but I have a knife."

"Here, take this pistol," James ordered. "You're useful as a scout, but an armed scout is better."

"I can't aim," Kasumi said, her voice shameful.

"Shots fired from an undeterminable location will help throw them off guard even if you can't hit anything. Take the pistol," James insisted. When the weapon disappeared from his hand, James blinked in confusion before shaking it off and peaking around the corner. "Alright, Kasumi, scout out ahead and let me know where the Batarians are."

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Passing Through

***Mindoinese Nebula (Nacre System)***

**System's Edge**

*_Dreams of Judgment_ (Cockpit)*

It was rare that a fighter was given a name and independent registration, but such a craft best fit the one piloting it. There was room enough for storage for what few things she did own, a resting area for extended FTL trips, and the cockpit. It was larger than one would expect a fighter to be, but too heavily armed and maneuverable to be a shuttle. If she understood their culture as well as she believed she did, the Humans who owned the system she was currently flying through would most closely classify her vessel as a long-range bomber. She cared not, or perhaps she simply cared too little for it to be measured. She was passing through, nothing more and nothing less.

The patrol fleet that guarded the system beyond this one, the system that was actually colonized, was divided into several subgroups. There were three Cruisers sitting in a stationary orbit around the Relay with several Frigate wolf-packs zooming around the system. There was even a large fighter presence. She had no doubts that the soldiers of the Systems Alliance Armed Forces took their jobs seriously. Their territory was, perhaps, more closely guarded than even the boarders to Turian Space, but that was neither her business nor her concern. She understood their reluctance to trust those who had so senselessly slaughtered so many innocents.

She herself had been a apart of those few selected to route out those most responsible for the injustice done to the Human race. That was behind her now, and, her business now concluded, she was leaving Alliance Territory as ordered. Her mission had been a simple one; show the Humans that the Asari Republics cared for their losses by tracking down the rogue aspects of the Turian infiltration regimen that had attempted, and failed, to steal a copy of the classified sections of the Alliance's Naval Codex.

The message she received changed her plans before she could even get within transmission range of the Relay…

****Alliance Public Codex****

***Primary Codex Entry***

**Planets and Locations**

*Mindoir: Location*

A planet located on the edge of Alliance Space, the reason Mindoir was never considered a 'Boarder Colony' was the fact that the Relay connecting the Arcian System of the Mindoinese Nebula to the rest of the galaxy is located in the neighboring system of Nacre. Due to this setup, the Alliance fleet that defends this sector was set up in the Nacre System, the one place the Alliance figured a hostile force would attack from. With the fleet located in Nacre, it was believed that both Mindoir and the Relay leading deeper into Alliance Territory would be better protected.

*Mindoir: History*

Mindoir is one of the few worlds currently claimed by Humanity and the Systems Alliance that was settled 'by accident.' When the Ark Ships originally set out from Earth, their destination was a world two clusters over from the Mindoinese Nebula. However, when the Ark Ships decelerated from the leg of their FTL journey between Mindoir and their target world to discharge their drive cores, they found the planet to be habitable and rich in much needed farm land. An executive decision made by the leader of the Mars Expedition, the now deceased General O'Neill, overrode the original plan, and the colony of Mindoir was claimed by humanity.

*Mindoir: Geography*

Mindoir is a farming world similar in temperament to the colony of Harvest with the added benefit of being located closer to the core of Alliance Territory. There are mountainous regions near the planet's poles, but the habitable region is mostly flat. The lay of Mindoir's geographical regions is caused in the same manner in which Earth's own geographical regions were, which is to say tectonic plates form mountains and fault lines mark locations for volcanoes. Where Earth had several tectonic plates, both large and small, Mindoir is unique in that it only has three; two massive and one comparatively smaller plates make up the entire crust of the planet. This has left the planet's surface so flat that winds can gust in excess of two-hundred miles per hour on a 'calm' day. The largest of three settlements on Mindoir, the capital city of Konstante, had to be built in a large, bowl shaped depression believed to be an impact crater. The large, mountain-like hills formed by the impact provide the city protection from Mindoir's winds.

Alliance TRAVEL ADISORY: Winds on Mindoir can blow at speeds capable of knocking Heavy Frigates off course. Do not approach the planet without proper guidance from Mindoir High Command. Approach vectors must be carefully calculated based off of a ship's mass.

**Author's Note**

I know, I know, I know, it's not the actual Codex for Mindoir, but they never did give us one so bare with me here. Obviously the Codex entry is what I want Mindoir to be like since I know nothing about the planet, and, believe me, I did do my research… I just didn't find anything.


	13. Humanity's Dark Guardians

**Author's Note**

A real quick explanation: I'm not saying that Raven can shoot lasers from her eyes, I'm just saying that where she looks she focuses her biotic energy. Hence 'death glare' takes on a far more literal meaning. Also, instead of repeating *Konstante (Outer City Limits) [day twenty]* a thousand times, I just put in the same dividers that I used in the last chapter so if one of the lines if bolded **}{ }{ }{** then it's a minor enough jump backwards in time that it doesn't need a label.

Chapter 10.2

Humanity's Dark Guardians

***Alliance/Batarian Border (Unknown System)***

**System Edge**

*_SSV Infinity_ (CIC) [current date]*

"We've got movement," the helmsman announced, his tone dark and his body tense, "The Batarian fleet is dropping out of FTL on the outer edge of the system. Orders, Admiral?"

"Steady your nerves, Helmsmen," Admiral Hackett replied in his usual tone of total confidence.

He was standing before the massive, holo-projected image of the system they were currently drifting through nearly without power. His posture wasn't something a military man gained going through boot camp. No, the Admiral's entire demeanor spoke of a raising that went back generations. His great, great, great grandfather must've started the military tradition in his family and they must've all been hard-asses to produce such an upright man so far down the family line. World War III would've had a lot to do with that as well; all of his scars came from that one war.

"Sir, with all due respect, the _Infinity_ isn't complete yet and we're running on minimal power levels. We should pull back, now, before they arrive," the Admiral's Executive Officer insisted.

"Begin the power up sequence. Bring the tertiary reactors online and start warming up the secondaries. Prime the barrier grid and ready the GARDIAN array. Radio engineering and have them start diverting what power they can spare into the kinetic weapons systems. Order Fighter pilots to action stations and damage control teams to ready positions," Hackett ordered, his eyes never leaving the screen that consumed the entire forward wall to provide a window to space when one wasn't available. The fact that the _Infinity_'s CIC was buried so deep within in the core of the ship meant that there were no windows for the crew to see out of. Instead, they used holographic projections just like the Prothean Super Dreadnoughts that the ship had been modeled after.

"By your command," the XO replied before doing as ordered.

"Fleet status," Hackett more said then asked.

"Dropping out of FTL in five… four… three… two… one… the first ship has arrived."

*_Glory of Khar'shan_ (CIC)*

"We'll be exiting FTL in a few seconds," the helmsman reported as the _Glory of Khar'shan_ began its deceleration maneuvers.

"And you were worried we wouldn't make it back," Khrelan Uavoo, the _Glory of Khar'shan's_ XO, said smartly to his Commanding Officer.

Yashmufar Balak didn't reply, he had too many things to worry about to deal with his executive's comment. "What's the status of the fleet?"

"All ships present and accounted for," the navigational officer replied. "We're at the edge of the…"

"Commander!" the tactical officer shouted above the navigator's report.

"What is it?" Balak asked.

"We're not alone," the tactical officer replied as the_ Glory of Khar'shan_ spun around until an alien ship appeared in the forward viewport.

"By the Pillars!" Uavoo exclaimed. "Look at the size of that thing!"

"Commander, that ship… it… it's got holes," the tactical officer reported. "It's covered in **holes**."

"If this isn't a sign from the Righteous Ones then I don't know what is!" Uavoo said as he stepped up to the viewport to better view a ship that put the _Destiny Ascension_ to shame by a significant degree.

"Commander, we're being hailed," the helmsman called out.

"Put it on screen," Balak ordered dryly.

Within moments of the order being given, the image of the ship drifting through space was blocked by the holographic image of a war-hardened Human who had a steel in his being that Balak understood very well. This man had seen, and, more importantly, done things that he would never admit to anyone.

"Human, you've strayed far from the safety of your home," Yashmufar said in a level tone. "I am Yashmufar Balak, the Mutilator…" Yashmufar began before the Human cut him off with a small noise like he was trying to stop a laugh from escaping. "You find something to be amusing about the situation you currently find yourself in?"

"_Not the situation, boy. It's your name that I find to be appropriately fitting considering your recent activities,"_ the man replied.

"Oh?" Balak asked. "And to which activities are you referring to?"

"_Do you truly believe it wise to challenge my intelligence when you're staring down the barrel of my main gun?"_ the man asked gruffly and the way he said it sent a shiver down Balak's spine. _"Since you so clearly don't know who you're dealing with, allow me to enlighten you. I am Admiral Steven Hackett, Commanding Officer of both Terra Renatus High Command and Alliance High Command. I hold the title of Lord of Admirals in the Alliance Navy, and I am the Captain of the _SSV Infinity_, flagship of the Alliance Navy, the self-same ship that you stand before at this very moment. Know this, Balak, you stand before the greatest weapon ever dreamt of by Human ingenuity that has been made a reality through the sheer force of our will. To make matters worse for you and your men, you have something that belongs to the Systems Alliance, something that the Phoenix wants back."_

"Ha!" Uavoo laughed. "Your ship is falling apart at the seams, Human. You stand alone before a fleet of Batarian warships on the edge of Batarian Space. You have no chance of leaving this system alive. Your ship is now ours!"

The Human's gaze drifted away from Balak, a sense of relief flooding his system as it did, and landed on Uavoo with the look of a man who had a pesky insect buzzing around his ear. Balak was sure that the man was already regretting his words. _"Extend your sensors range,"_ the Human commanded. _"You'll find the wreckage of your patrol fleet drifting in orbit of the gas giant near the core of this system, and the remains of your defensive formation lying dead in orbit of the Relay."_

"Do it," Balak ordered tightly.

"By the Pillars," the navigator gasped a second later.

"_Their force was three-times larger than your own and they fell before they could call for help. How confident in your survival are you now?"_ the Human asked.

"One badly damaged ship against a fleet carrying a whole colony worth of hostages?" Balak replied calmly. "I find my odds to be better than yours."

"_Then clearly you don't know humanity as well as you think you do,"_ the Human said as his eyes met the Commander's. _"We don't leave our people behind."_

"Power…" the tactical officer began. Had he been given the chance, he would've warned them that he had detected a massive power spike coming from the Human vessel. He wasn't given the proper opportunity to do so.

Beams of three different colors of light laced out from the massive ship before the Batarian fleet, each color striking and crippling the engines of a Batarian ship at different ranges. Balak was just about to order evasive maneuvers be taken when more beams started lacing out from within his own fleet. His ship was located near the core of the formation, well protected by the bulk of the ships surrounding his own, but, before he could so much as flinch, more than twenty ships were tearing his fleet's engines to ribbons from within their own ranks. Then the Human spoke again.

"_We've already done a headcount on the number of Human lives on each of your ships. If that number drops by so much as one, I will show you the same kindness you showed to the people of Mindoir. I strongly advise you not to test my resolve, __**boy**__. It'll be the last lesson you ever learn before your own gods deny you access to whatever you call heaven."_

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***Mindoinese Nebula (Arcian System)***

**Mindoir (Surface)**

*Konstante (Outer City Limits) [day twenty]*

John decelerated from superhuman speeds with a thud of biotic energy and a blast of shrapnel as the rock he slammed into, shoulder-first, shattered under the force of his impact. "Me man. Me make rock go bomb!" Raven said as she made a very obscene imitation of a monkey dancing a celebratory jig.

"Me woman. Me jealous of man," John replied in kind.

"Bitch please," Raven said before slamming her fist into the ground. A pulse of energy surged forth from her body and several meters of dirt were thrown into the air. When the dust finally settled, a crater the size of a small house was revealed. "You're not the only one who knows how to make shit explode with your mind."

"Whoever said that I was?" John asked with a taunting smile.

"You're so annoying," Raven replied with a role of her eyes. "You think you're all that and then some, but really you're just a punk-ass little kid with no control."

"I have no control?" John asked indignantly. "Looks who's talking."

"You can't claim to have control when all you ever do is destroy things. I've never, not even once, seen you do something even remotely constructive with your biotics and I've known you for the past six years."

"So I lack the **desire** to build pretty things, big deal. That doesn't mean that I **can't** build pretty things, and besides, you may have better control biotically, but your emotional control lacks the… refinement I'd expect from someone your age."

The death glare that Raven shot John would've warped a hole into his head had his barrier not been in place. Raven rose from her place sitting on boulder, her legs not moving as her body simply floated into the air. When she was hovering over him, she looked down upon him, her glare now focusing a Push-field onto his chest, and spoke in a voice that reverberated with power.

Each word was a Shockwave in and of itself that struck with all the force of a sonic boom. "You don't know what it's like to be me!" Raven hissed in a voice that was so quiet it was defining, the Shockwaves she was emitting with each word making her whispers carry far further than they should've. "I lost my brother to the fighting in World War III, I lost my mother in the nuclear holocaust at the end of the war, and the only family I have left, my own father, treats me like I'm a freak of nature that he wants nothing to do with yet he spends his every waking moment with all the fucking soldiers he sees as being more important this his own flesh-and-blood! You walked away from Earth with your family intact, so don't judge me, Jonathan, or it'll be the last thing you ever do!"

Raven let the Push-field fade away as she turned away from him and lowered herself down. Her feet weren't even on solid ground when she turned back around with another death glare in place. Her reaction was in response to the mocking scuff John had just directed at her. "You got something you want to say to me?" Raven asked, her fists tightening and the glow her aura darkening to a deep purple.

"You preach control like you're actually a licensed pastor, but you're just as subjectable to loosing it as the rest of us. You think you've got issues? Remember Alenko? It's kids like him that are the main reason they start the BAaT program at sixteen. He got mad once and kicked another kid hard enough that he broke the guy's neck at the age of fourteen. Your daddy issues don't amount to shit when you compare them to what everyone else goes through. Do you want to know the only real difference between you and everyone else?" John asked.

"Shut up!" Raven growled darkly.

"It's simple really…" John pressed on.

"I said shut up!" Raven shouted as her aura darkened enough that light began to warp around them and the area grew darker as tendrils of biotic power laced out from her body like the root system of a large tree..

"… everyone else in the world actually knows how to coup with their problems, whereas you just take out your frustration on everyone except the person causing you pain!"

Raven screamed at the top of her lungs, the force of her voice kicking up a plum of dust as her body shot forward and she collided with John. Raven, feet still floating above the ground, had the advantage of higher ground; John had traction. His own biotics flared as his mass was artificially increased to the point of being unmovable. When Raven struck his barrier, she was stopped dead in her tracks; Adepts simply didn't have the kick in their variation of a Charge to break the barrier of an expert at that same move, and John had a few tricks up his sleeve that were only taught to Vanguards.

When Raven hit him, he used his barrier to halt her momentum, then destabilized his barrier and pushed out. His barrier went from being a skin-tight layer of protection against kinetic energy to being an unstable force of displaced mass. There was a brilliant flash of blue as his barrier first lost its integrity then expanded into a shimmering halo; a biotic supernova powered by one being's body. Raven, still hovering in the air, was blasted backwards by the pulse, and John used that moment to make his next move.

There was a wrath in her eyes that John knew well, he could tell that much even from the distance he had thrown her to. Raven had several things motivating her to get through school when they had started. By the time they had finished, she had only one. She started out with a drive to be the best so she could impress her father. When he showed no interest in the progress of her studies, she switched to beating the shit out of anyone she spared against to make the pain physical. Only when her knuckles were bloodied and smashed was she able to let go of the pain in her heart. When that got her reprimanded for being too aggressive, she switched again, this time to simply wanting to be done so she could leave. When even that promise fell through due to the realistic costs, her one driving motivation had been becoming a fully-fledged Alliance Adept. She could beat people to a pulp, mostly criminals and aliens, travel the galaxy on the Alliance's dime, and finally do something worthwhile all at once, but even that wasn't a guarantee because she couldn't pass the psyche evaluation.

"You're so blinded by your hatred for your father you can't see what's right in front of you!" John shouted up to her as his own body pulsed a much deeper shade of purple-ish blue before streaking forward at an untraceable rate. He impacted Raven's barrier, as expected, and pulsed his own again, but only expended half of the energy.

"I TOLD YOU TO SHUT THE HELL UP!" Raven shouted once she was stable in the air again. Her exclamation was punctuated by a Warp thrown at John's head.

The ball of spatial distortion swirled in a mass of lethal entropic energy before colliding midair with John's own biotic attack. The two fields detonated each other and a ball of unstable energy expanded in a flash before dying out from a lack of energy. The ground beneath where the two attacks had collided was covered in spider web-like cracks and the air vibrated with residual biotic force.

"I don't take orders from you!" John replied as his own voice raised though he still wasn't shouting… as loud as she was at any rate.

"Then you should at least learn to take a fucking hint!" Raven shouted before flying at John, foot-first, with a Shockwave-enhanced kick.

Her heavy leather boot landed on John's forearm and the Shockwave rolled off his barrier. It was foolish of an Adept to engage any enemy in close quarters combat, but to engage a Vanguard was tantamount to suicide. It was fortunate then, for Raven, that she wasn't your typical Adept. Nevertheless, when her kick was so easily thwarted, she knew she was in trouble. True to what her judgment would've seen clearly had it not been impaired, John's arm never left her leg. Rather, he twisted his arm and grabbed onto her calf with his hand then locked her in a Stasis field before delivering unto her a Push-enhanced punch to her guts. The field of biotic energy that encased his fist was absorbed by her barrier, but the balled up appendage made full contact with its intended target.

Raven fell to the ground, the biotic field holding her in the air no longer under her control when her focus was broken by the sharp pain. She rolled onto her side, clutching her stomach, and let out a moan of pain before kicking backwards. The attack was predictable and the biotic Shockwave that flowed from her feet easily avoided. The Pull-field that caught his ankle and jerked him into the sky, however, was not.

"Me?" John asked before slamming a Push into her Pull. The two fields detonated again and John landed in a slide while Raven spun to her feet. "You're the one who has no clue exactly how good you have it!"

"Good?" Raven asked in a tone of total rage. "**Good**? I hate my life! Half the time I wish I had died on Earth with everyone else! I'm sick and tired of everyone treating me like crap all the time! My mother was the only person who ever cared about me and she's dead!"

"Bullshit!" John shouted back before slamming a Throw-field into the ground at her feet.

Once she was off-balance, John Charged into her. The moment her back hit the ground, John was holding her down with a localized Mass Effect field that created extreme gravitational distortions on her wrists and ankles. If he had gone for a full-body Stasis field, the energy spread out over a larger area would've restricted Raven's movements more effectively, but she would've been able to break it with a counter biotic field more easily. The way he had it, she would have to focus through her rage to create the minute fields needed to free herself. In her current emotional state, that wasn't very likely to happen.

"Let me go!" Raven snarled as she trashed around and struggled against her bonds.

"Not until you hear me out," John shouted back before slapping another field across her mouth to keep her from talking. "I'm sick of you treating me like crap all the time just because your father pisses you off. If you want someone to love you, you don't go off and conform to their ideas of the perfect person. If he can't appreciate you for who you are then fuck him and find someone else! Better yet, stop letting hatred blind you and realize that what you've been looking for has been right in front of you this entire time!"

The silence was nearly absolute. Raven wasn't struggling anymore, but the tears were now running freely down her face. John was breathing heavy from the force of his own exertions, but the volume at which his heart was beating was defining. This was supposed to happen, yes, but not like this.

He turned, the restraints holding Raven down still in place, and walked away. When the energy required to hold restrain her was too much, the amount required increasing with each step he took, John let the fields die before disappearing in a streak of light. He wasn't running from Raven, she would be able to find him anywhere he went by tracing the disturbances his Charge left in the air; she was good like that. No, he was running from himself, from his own mind and thoughts. It was a race he would never win, a darkness he would never escape. It doesn't matter how fast you can move, you can never outrun yourself.

Raven, even released from the bonds that had restrained her, laid on the ground and fought back everything she tried so hard to suppress for all these years. In the end, she failed to stop the tears that mixed with the dirt on her face and left streaks of mud as they fell, failed to stop the memories of her mother and happier times from returning, and failed to stop herself from caring that she was hurt inside more than she could ever explain. As strong as she was, there were two men in this galaxy that could reduce her to tears without even trying, the fact that one of them had actively **tried** made it all the worse, so she laid there, curled in a ball of rage and depression, and cried until the dirt beneath her face was turned to mud.

She stayed that way for longer than she could comprehend and the only reason she bothered to look up was the pulses of red light that lit up the sky. Her eyes followed the pulses and she beheld an Alliance Triton diving out of the skies, its hull aflame with radiant heat from a rapid re-entry. The Interceptor pulled up in a sharp arc and leveled out in time to fire its gatling-style GARDIAN cannons at objects falling out of the sky with it.

At first glance, it was just an Interceptor protecting the city from a small meteor storm. Four objects were shot out of the sky, a plum of smoke and shrapnel marking their deaths, then a fifth object clipped the Triton's wing and the small craft spiraled out of control as its port-side engine was torn off. Raven was moving before she could think.

When the Interceptor hit her, she could feel her ribcage groan in protest, but her barrier held against the force of the impact and saved her from being cut in half by the small craft. She shifted the Mass Effect fields around her body and created a new direction for gravity to flow. As such, she glued herself to the hull of the Interceptor and pulled herself up. Despite the fact that the ship was spinning out of control, she could easily crawl across its armored frame. When she reached the cockpit, she threw out her arm and demanded that the laws of physics obey her will. The transparent, glass-like material that formed the cockpit shattered and flew towards her. Raven grabbed the pilot, who was still stunned, and drug him out of the ship before jumping off.

The pilot touched down gently, but, when Raven's feet touched the dirt, so too did the rest of her body. She laid there, fighting back the pain in her body, until the pain started to disperse. She opened her eyes to find the pilot kneeling over her, a medi-gel dispenser in his hands. "Thank you," she managed to groan.

"I think I should be thanking you," the pilot replied before an explosion shook the ground. The pilot looked up towards the source and sighed. "At least my Interceptor didn't hit the city." Another explosion sounded, this one from above them, and the pilot instinctually covered Raven with his own body. He looked up over his shoulder and swore before scooping her up and starting to run.

"What's wrong?" Raven asked as she fought back the pain of having her injured body handled so roughly.

"They just took down the _Hastings_!" the pilot replied before the beautiful blue skies full of fluffy white clouds turned black and dark blue.

Raven felt the threat through her biotics despite not being able to see. The _Hastings_, one of the Frigates assigned to the defense of Mindoir, had just been destroyed and its drive core had went critical in the process. She could feel the shockwave racing towards them and see the shimmering outline of its energy. They weren't going to make it.

Raven let her body glow as her biotics flared and a barrier sprang to life between the two Humans and the lethal force of energy. Even with the extra protection of her barrier, when the shockwave hit them, the pilot stumbled and fell. Before either of them could stand, large chunks of armored hull rained down on the large stretch of farmland that surrounded Konstante. Crops were set ablaze with flames hot enough to melt starship armor, the ground shook as hundreds of metric tons of metal slammed into the surface, and the air was still vibrating from the detonation of the drive core. Then the sky, which had brightened when the Frigate was destroyed and the pulse of its drive core blew away the clouds, grew very dark.

Raven looked up to see a large ship descending from the depths of hell itself. Its belly was brightly glowing and she could hear the sizzle of flames as the armored hull absorbed the heat generated by entering the atmosphere. Then the OIPs started to rain down. Entire flights of Alliance Sabre and Triton Fighters and Interceptors dove out of orbit, likewise aflame with heat from re-entry, and swooped up under the Cruiser. Their objective was to destroy as many of the enemy OIPs as they could, but there were simply too many for them to handle.

How unfortunate, then, for the hostile invaders that Mindoir was no ordinary planet. The land was flat and the winds gusted at incredible speeds twenty-nine hours a day, seven days a week, eighty-two weeks a year, ten years a decade, and so on. So great was the speed of the winds that blew over this valley, which was protected by the mountains that surrounded it, that they could blow the _Hastings_ off course on a calm day, and, during this time of the year, even Heavy Frigates had trouble staying on course. While this had little to no affect on the Cruiser itself, the OIPs were being blown off course to severe degrees and a few of the unluckier ones were even slammed into the mountains.

Fighters were likewise affected, but the Alliance pilots defending Mindoir had been given extensive training and had experience compensating for this kind of weather. The Sabres and Tritons were outnumber by their counterparts, but they had the home-field advantage. While the hostiles tried, and failed, to engage the Sabres as they swarmed the Cruiser, the Tritons were zipping through the atmosphere, unhindered, and racking up more kills than they were suffering losses, but even the most primitive of VIs can compensate for wind speeds.

And compensate their VI did. The OIPs stopped firing for a few seconds, just long enough for the VI to recalculate their course, then started raining down again and this time, they weren't missing their targets.

The pilot beside Raven activated his Omni-tool and started speaking, but Raven couldn't make out his words. She was too stunned by what she was witnessing. Then there was a vibration in the ground as nearby missile silos buried beneath the surface blew open their hatches and fired off a swarm of modified Disruptor Torpedoes designed to be capable of making it to orbit. They didn't have to travel that far today, but they were direly needed.

The Cruiser hanging above them fired its GARDIAN array, the red pulses of light turning the sky the color of blood. Despite their best efforts, the aliens in the Cruiser failed to stop the missiles. Seeing as how the Alliance had designed their every weapon to be capable of taking on the Protheans, it wasn't surprising to the military leaders of the galaxy that the Alliance could hold such power in a small ship. The galactic community still refused to believe what the Alliance told them of the Protheans, but that was of little concern to humanity. They would build their weapons and continue to do so with or without the Council's blessing, and these weapons were designed to defend colonies from Prothean Dreadnoughts.

The missiles arched up and over the Cruiser before slamming back down into the dorsal structure. Secondary explosions ravaged the ship and caused several areas to become ablaze with flames. Large plums of smoke filled the air, all of them rising from the behemoth above them. The Cruiser turned and limped away. It pulled up and attempted to make orbit where its damaged frame would be under less stress, but Humans are a vengeful bunch. As the Cruiser tried to run, the Sabres doubled their efforts. The half of them that were helping handle the OIPs broke off their assault and, as one, an entire Sabre wing fired off a round of Disruptor Torpedoes that struck the engine couplings.

The Cruiser lost all forward momentum and listed for a few seconds before gravity trapped the ship in its grip and pulled down. The nose tilted up and the pilots tried to compensate, tried to regain power, but it was a useless effort. With a thunderous crash, the Cruiser impacted the side of a mountain and exploded in a massive ball of fire, smoke, shrapnel, and dark matter energy as the core detonated. This one, however, was far enough away that the shockwave didn't even reach the farmland, let alone the city.

"Come on, we need to check and see if there are any survivors," the pilot said as he began walking towards the burning wreckage of the _Hastings_.

"I can't," Raven replied as she looked back at the city, certain parts of which were now smoking. Even from this distance, she could hear gunfire… and feel the tugging sensation she always felt, the one that pulled her towards John. When they were together, it was something she could ignore, but, the further apart they got, the harder it pulled. "I have to help them."

The pilot sighed in reply then held out his hand. "Here," he said as he offered her a few medi-gel packs. "Hopefully you won't need them, but I'd rather you had them than not." Raven nodded in reply and turned to leave, but the man spoke again. "Hey," he called after her. Raven turned towards him and he smiled at her. "If we both make it out of this alive, I owe you a drink. I'm Steve Cortez, look me up when all this over."

"I'm Raven Frasier," she replied in kind. They shared one final nod then went their separate ways. Cortez was going after his friends, and Raven was going after hers, but she had a stop to make along the way.

Above her, a pair of Frigates flying under Alliance colors, one Human-built, the other Quarian, streaked into the atmosphere to take the Cruiser's place, their engines burning at max and leaving a deafening sonic boom in their wake, and immediately started dropping every last ODST they had available before breaking for orbit to continue the fight against the hostile fleet. Mindoir may only be a farming colony with minimal military interest, but the Alliance was humanity reinvented. Gone were the days when military interests tromped civilian casualties; they couldn't afford to think like that anymore, not with so few having survived that way of life the first time around. No, the Alliance Armed Forces would fight to save every last civilian life they could, and every soldier in the AAF had swore that same oath.

The battle for Mindoir had begun.

The war against the Hegemony would soon begin.

**}{ }{ }{ }{ }{ }{ }{ }{ }{ }{ }{ }{ }{**

John had wandered the streets aimlessly for hours before finally arriving at the "That's Two 'L's!" Memorial Park. The park was so named for the American General who oversaw the final stages of the Vault Program and was directly responsible for the recruiting effort for the whole thing. General Jonathan 'Jack' O'Neill was often quoted as telling superiors who threatened to write him up "It's O'Neill. That's with two 'L's!" Thus the park, dedicated to his efforts by order of the Mayor of Konstante, was named.

John came here a lot. It was near the center of the city, but had a farmland feel to it. There was a small pond in the middle that was always making noise as the famous 'Flying Fish of Mindoir' lived up to their name. They were insectivores and were always jumping out of the water to catch their prey. What really made them unique was that they could jump nearly fifty feet in the air and glide ten feet before hitting the water again. There was also a very large field covered in wild flowers of every color under the Mindoirian sun and a truly massive tree that had a canopy a fully city-block wide. It was also a native to Mindoir and had a rather annoying genetic trait that made it wither and die on any other world. This particular one was over three-hundred years old and had several more centuries to live before it would begin to be old by its race's standards.

As was his custom when coming here, John sat with his back against the trunk of the great tree high up in the branches where he could see the whole park. He was tired of running from something he'd never escape but just as unwilling to admit to himself how he really felt. It was all to complicated and he just wasn't ready for it, so he came here where he hoped to find peace. His failed search, however, put him in the perfect spot to save the lives of those around him.

There was a thunderous roar off in the distance and John opened his eyes to the bright sunlight filtering down from the clouds. He saw the big plums of moisture trapped in the sky and thought it looked like a beautiful day. Then there was a flash of darkness and the clouds turned black in an instant before the shattered remains of a ship fell out of the sky and the clouds were shoved aside to reveal a Cruiser headed right for the planet, OIPs dropping from its ventral surface before the ship was forced from the sky by a barrage of missiles.

Two large metal pods impacted the surface of Mindoir in the middle of the park and John looked down at them with a look of confusion. _'Why are OIPs landing in the…'_ His thoughts came up short when the pods burst open and three aliens with four eyes each stepped out of both of the pods. He almost thought it was a joke, something the Turians set up to piss off the admirals and generals who continued to deny them access to the Alliance Naval Codex, but that thought was killed by the fact that a very real mother had just taken a very real bullet to her gut trying to drag her very real kid away from the pods and died a very real death as a result. Not even the Turians would think that was funny.

That was all it took for John to charge into action… literally. With the force of his deceleration came the boom of air colliding with itself after being torn apart by his passing. The alien who had shot the woman flew through the air before landing in a heap clear across the park. A shotgun blast slammed into John's barrier before he remembered that each pod had three hostiles which meant there were still five armed aliens with a newfound reason to target him.

He ducked under the next blast before rolling away to gain a little distance. He ended the maneuver with his feet under him in a crouch before slamming a Throw into the alien and sending it stumbling back. The next one came at him with its wrist raised, Omni-tool humming. John didn't know what to do so he just threw his hands up and took the blast to his barrier. The cluster of blades, however, was only slowed by his defenses. His lack of movement cost him the pain of several knives stabbing into his forearms to varying degrees.

The pain was a stimulus like ice-water tossed on a sleeping child.

John didn't coil back. Instead, he pushed forward with the very fabric of his being and the universe obeyed his every command. The blades shot out of his arms and tumbled through the air before embedding theirselves in the alien's chest-plate then John himself was flying through the air. He landed, foot-first, and drove no less than three of the blades clear through the alien's ribcage to stick out of the back of its now bloodied armor.

The second, the one with the shotgun, recovered and blasted John with two shots. The consecutive blasts made him stumble and John ended up on the ground with his first victim. He was down, but not out. John hit the ground rolling and reinforced the barrier at his back while gathering more energy in his hands. He gripped the ground, his fingers digging into the dirt and cracks spreading out from there as he sent ripples of energy into the earth beneath him.

Again, the universe bowed to his demand, and, as he half-crawled/half-stumbled forward, John lifted a large chunk of dirt held together by his biotics and threw it back with all his might. The chunk of dirt, grass, roots, rocks, and pebbles slammed into the alien and knocked it off balance for the second time and John used that moment to disappear with a blast of air parting before him.

The park was populated and the people were exposed, panicked, and running in which ever direction they thought was safest. He was the only one there fighting and he was outnumbered. The odds were still in his favor.

John decelerated from superhuman speed with his fist leading the deceleration, the balled-up appendage encased in a focused Shockwave. Straight from one alien to another, John delivered a punch to the creature's sternum that caused the entire chest cavity to cave-in as the now lifeless body was sent flying over a dozen meters. Two down, four to go.

John spun on his heel and let gravity cease to be for a fraction of a second. His acrobatic stunt took him up and over the next blast of blades aimed at his back before he landed and Charged again. This time his knee, wrapped in a Throw field, did the work and the solid form of his leg impacted the alien's face with extra kinetic force, but that still wasn't enough; the alien's armor held despite the severity of the blow. John attack did, however, manage to cause the four-eyed alien to stumble back, and, as its barrier gave out and left nothing but the armor protecting the body protected by it, John focused his Throw into a thin disc and threw at the alien's neck before Charging off again, his foe dispatched and decapitated.

With a thud, he was back at the first pod.

'_No armor,'_ John thought to himself as he skidded along the ground, his body dragging across the surface of his 'homeworld' as he slid under the alien and took its feet out from under it. Once the alien was down, John was on top of it, his fists glowing with concentrated energy as he pounded the most vital area of any organic's body, regardless of species, to a pulp. By the time he was done, it was impossible to tell the thing had ever been a Batarian judging by its face; not that John knew that he was fighting Batarians.

'_Keep moving,'_ he coached himself as he Charged again.

This time, when he decelerated, he was the one to take a blow that knocked him backwards. Even as he was falling, the world moving in slow motion, John looked up through the daze of his shock and saw one of the aliens standing over him, its own body glowing and a shimmering field between them. John had just Charged head-first into a barrier-wall. _'So that's how that feels,'_ he thought to himself, all in the blink of an eye.

The pain was intense like liquid metal running through his veins.

The moment he had going into the wall was deflected as physics now became his friend. The angle in equals the angle out. Energy doesn't die, it just gets redirected. Force in equals force out… these all came into play. As John's body impacted the barrier at nearly an exact one-hundred-eighty degrees, he was sent flying backwards in an equally straight line with the same force that he had when he was traveling the in his intended direction. He used it to his advantage.

As his back hit the ground, John brought his legs up and let the inertial energy of his rebound roll him over his shoulders and bring him to his feet again in one smooth motion. He was surrounded on three sides, the biotic before him, the other alien from the biotic's pod off to his left, and the first alien he had sent flying but never finished off behind him, but at least he wasn't trapped in their triangle while lying flat on his back as the biotic, undoubtedly, intended. If he was up, he was moving. If he was moving, he was alive. If was alive, he was fighting. If he was fighting, it was a bad day to be his enemy.

John took a step back and hopped into the air, his body curling into a tight ball and his barrier collapsing around him and thickening to form a tight sphere of protective energy. The grenade beneath him detonated and John flew into the air, his barrier shimmering and flickering as the protective field of energy destabilized, but held. Then gravity took over and he dropped.

Being a biotic has more advantages than it does disadvantages. Being a good biotic only has one disadvantage; it makes you a target, and John was the best in his class. One of those advantages was controlled freefalls and John wasn't about to let this opportunity pass him up. He used his biotics to alter his mass until he weighed nothing more than a feather, then he changed his airflow dynamics to reduce tread. Next he changed the direction of his fall by spawning a micro-Singularity with just enough pull to only affect his reduced mass. He placed that Singularity behind his target and let him pull him towards the alien in question, and, in the end, his training paid off when his tennis shoes made contact with one of the aliens' faces. The moment he felt the resistance to his fall, John reversed the Mass Effect fields on his body and increased his mass until he weighed over five-hundred pounds. He stumbled as he fell, but still managed to crush the alien's chest under his increased mass.

Four down, two to go.

Motion was the only way to avoid the bullets, blades, and biotic attacks directed at him and if he planned on living, which he did, he really needed to save his barrier for the duel with the biotic. So he Charged.

When John decelerated this time, he appeared beside the next alien and twisted its arm to bring it behind the thing's back. These were aliens, yes, but their joints appeared to work the same way as a Human's, so the arm-lock served its purpose. With the alien securely trapped between himself and the alien-biotic, John fumbled around until he found his captive's sidearm. Finally armed somewhat properly, he raised the weapon and fired off a full clip.

The pistol wasn't of Alliance make, as one would expect of an alien invasion force, but that was bad news for John when normally it would be bad news for the alien. The current administration, both political and in terms of the military, were firmly against allowing the more accomplished achievements humanity had made leave Alliance Space. As such, no one but Alliance Marines had weapons that operated with both a heat-sink and a thermal clip. That having been said, the pistol John was borrowing not only fired a mere eight shots before overheating, but didn't even have any of the oh so very useful ammo mods the Alliance Armed Forces were so found of using.

Not only did it have a low thermal capacity, but the rounds of the pistol were only on par with the old Predator Anti-Personnel Sidearm model that had been outdone by the Carnifex Hand Cannon which, in tern, had been outdone by the Alliance's Stingray Heavy Pistol. Where the appropriately named 'Hand Cannon' had stopping power and penetration ability at the coast of fire rate and the Predator had rate of fire and capacity but not the kick, the Stingray had the best of both; one hell of a kick to punch through armor, fired as fast as you could pull the trigger and reload the thermal clip, and had a twelve round thermal clip capacity with a six round heat sink capacity for backup. That alone made if superior to the older models Humans had produced, and, by galactic standards, made an Alliance Soldier armed with such a weapon equally equipped to a Turian with one of the Hierarchy's standard-issue sidearms. Combined with the Alliance's diverse ammo types, and a Soldier with a Stingray could take on a Turian with a Phaeston and expect victory at high cost. John had neither the Stingray nor the ammo types.

He did, however, have a hostage who served as a source of a kinetic barrier, armor plating, and a meat-shield in a single package. All he had to do was keep the alien from moving with the proper application of a Stasis field and he'd be able to absorb enough fire from the other alien to allow his own barrier to pick up any slack. All he had to do now was get the shitty pistol in his hand to cool down enough to be used again.

The alien-biotic wasn't about to allow that. Without a care in the world, the alien-biotic threw a Warp into John's captive before charging up a Throw in his other hand. John saw what was about to happen and actually felt a moment of pity for the alien he held captive, but only a moment. Sure the poor bastard's teammate was about to kill his own man, but that was a good thing for John and he held no sympathy for a bunch of murderous alien bastards. He also had the advantage of being an Alliance-trained biotic which gave him the ultimate trump card.

Before the alien-biotic had the chance to unleash its attack and detonate the Warp field that was, at this moment, still struggling to eat through the other alien's barrier, John let his biotic energy leak into the gun in his hand until the casing glowed a soft purple. With a smirk of victory he pulled the trigger once. The Warp Ammo-enhanced round entered the Throw in the alien-biotic's hand and detonated the biotic sphere before it could be thrown.

The force of the explosion wasn't as powerful as it would've been had the alien-biotic succeeded in triggering a full-scale reaction, but it was enough to shatter the armor covering its right arm and Warp a section of the skin away. That meant its kinetic barrier was down and its biotics were out of whack, so the next shot John fired pierced the alien's skull. Or, rather, would have had the gun survived firing the first round.

Alliance weapons were designed with all the many ammo variants in mind and specifically built to allow them to be used with a biotic's Warp Ammo. This gun, however, had not been. As a result, when the low-level Warp field that John had added to the bullet had passed through the barrel, the entire firing mechanism of the pistol had been damaged beyond use or repair. The gun itself, however, was still made of a sturdy metal, so John drew his arm back and threw the pistol itself with all the force he could muster.

As the biotic-enhanced toss of the pistol impacted the alien's head and caused him to stumble back, John took the opportunity to snap his captive's neck before Charging forward and pouncing on the hostile biotic much the same way he had the alien from before. By the time he was done, the alien's chest cavity was caved in, its head was a pulpy mess… it's best to say the upper-half of the alien's body was beyond being recognized as a body.

Panting hard and sweating even harder, John stood to his feet then looked down. His hands were shaking from the amount of energy he had exerted today between both training with and fighting Raven coupled with fighting off six aliens, of which one was also a biotic. Then there was that grenade… John looked past his hands to his body and took stock of his wounds.

The pain hit him all at once like a wave crashing against his very soul.

John inhaled, first through his nose, and smelt the aroma of blood mixed with the salty smell of sweat and tears, the stink of Human pheromones, adrenaline and fear. It was the smell of death; the smell of pain, loss, and suffering. It was a smell John knew far to well. A smell John had become far too accustomed to back when he still lived on Earth… but those memories were supposed to be repressed, forgotten, forced down into the deepest, darkest recesses of his mind never to be remembered again.

John let out a shaky breath and noticed the way his chest spiked with pain in response. The blood that was soaking into and staining his shirt had gone unnoticed until now. The grenade had done damage that he hadn't felt through his battle-haze. His shirt was half-torn/half-burnt off and his chest was just as damaged. His ribs were bruised, his skin hot and sensitive, and he was bleeding from several places where blood wasn't the only fluid leaking from his body. There was a clear substance mixed with it and, somewhere deep in the recesses of his mind, John made the connection between the clear fluid and his immune system. His lungs were also slightly charred which was making breathing difficult and increasing his odds of passing out from exhaustion.

John breathed in through his mouth next, the act itself more of a pain-filled hiss. There was the taste of copper in the air, a byproduct of the blood soaking into the grass of the park's field be it Human or alien blood it somehow smelled the same. He could taste the tangy metallic aftertaste of blood on his tongue and feel some of it dripping down the back of his throat. It wasn't a pleasant feeling.

Finally his eyes began to burn from being open for so long. Blinking away the pain, John took in the sights before him. His eyes wandered across the surrounding landscape, the blurry haze of his battle-state fading as the ones who had held him so engrossed in combat bleed to death around him. There were dead bodies everywhere. More than just these two pods had landed on this block, though John was lucky that only these six aliens had taken notice of him; the rest had been engaged by the Alliance's counter drop.

There were other bodies besides the aliens. Mothers, fathers, children, soldiers… none were being spared the indiscriminate killing these aliens were running around dishing out, and the ones who didn't die? They were taken, alive and screaming until a collar was put around their necks.

There was a pop in John's ears before a semblance of the sense of hearing returned to him and the screams of the living instantly filled his head with thoughts of guilt. These people were in danger and he was standing around doing nothing. Then the anger overwhelmed the guilt and John clenched his fists hard enough to draw blood from the palms of his hands. Then fear overcame that. He had no armor, no weapon, and there were too many to fight with just his biotics alone. He needed a gun, a good gun, a suit of armor or even just a barrier that didn't depend on his body, or…

All other thoughts faded from his mind as the perfect solution surfaced through the fog that filled his mind. He needed to find Raven, and he knew exactly where she'd be.

Raven and the other Adepts had been taught to fly because their amps couldn't handle the energy of a Charge while maintaining their rapid cool down rate and flying was faster than walking, but Vanguards were the fastest combatants on any battlefield because their amps sacrificed cool down speed for raw power. Even with buildings in the way, all John had to do was get to the rooftops and Charge from one to another and the branches that spread over the entire city block made that easy. He had to force himself to ignore what was happening on the streets below as he moved from rooftop to rooftop. If he stopped to help anyone now, it would cost more lives in the end, but if he could find Raven…

He felt her biotic aura long before he saw her, but it was enough to divert him off of his predetermined course and towards her actual location. As he approached, the thudding of his passage drowned out all noise, yet, somehow, he could hear her. She sounded so fragile and her pain felt like icy fingers around his heart.

"Why are you doing this?" Raven asked, and John could **feel** the tears through the ripples in her aura even from a distance so great he still couldn't see her. There was a pause, presumably while an answer to her question was given, but John could only hear her, could only **feel** her. "And the rest of the colony?" Raven asked, her voice so close to breaking it was like a knife cutting away at his soul. "What did any of us ever do to you?"

Still too far out to see anything, John could feel it when bullets started bouncing off of her barrier, the ripples in her aura reflecting the impacts and spreading like waves when a rock is dropped into calm water. He felt it when her aura spiked three shades darker before energy being spent dimmed the light of her soul. She had responded to her attacker with lethal force, but there was another, and John could see the colors of her heart, the disposition of her emotions, the weakening of her soul. She wasn't going to stop this one… by choice.

With a snarl of rage directed at the alien for being there and Raven for giving up, John slammed into the alien's back with the force of an Earth Age freight train. As his kneed drove into the center of the alien's back, John grabbed its shoulders to hold it in place. He could feel the armor protecting the alien shattered under the force of his impact and its inability to move away from it, but, even as the alien's spin was pulverized, John was grabbing its head and twisting violently. Only after the alien's back was broken and its neck had been snapped did John allow the now lifeless body to fall. It landed in a heap of alien flesh at his feet.

"John," Raven said, her voice low and her eyes not rising to meet his. "I'm so sorry. I wasn't fast enough…"

John looked down at the figure over which Raven was kneeling and his body went rigid. He longed to reach out a hand and check for a pulse, but he knew that such a thing was illogical. His father was dead, and no amount of wishing would change that, so he focused on what he could change. He knelt beside Raven and began administering aid to her wounds with a numbness and a sense of confliction.

She should've done something for him, but his wounds were obviously untreated and Raven would've reacted with rage over tears if she had found him already dead. She had found him alive and done nothing to keep him that way. As much as he wanted to fault her for that, John knew his father, knew that the decision to leave him to die was his own, and knew that there had been words between them before he met his end. He would ask what they were, but not until later. Right now, his rage was death personified.

Something jumped at him, clinging to his back, and John turned to find another trio of aliens behind him. His face immediately contorted into a wrathful snarl as he charged one of the aliens with the other still holding onto his back for dear life. The third one he left for Raven as he and the other two smashed through one wall before slamming into another.

With one of them now thoroughly stunned, John turned to the other and decided that simply smearing his bio-matter across the History Class would be the fastest form of death that cost the smallest amount of energy. Then there was the other which was even easier to kill; a simple, Throw-enhanced uppercut that snapped the neck. The next thing he was consciously aware of was Raven calling for his help. She hadn't fully recovered form her state of shock and there were more aliens at the new entrance to the building he had created. A school was the last thing John was about to let a bunch of two-bit slavers have free roam of. He let his biotics pulse and his aura darken until he was surrounded by a deep, ocean blue light. Then he Charged and every scrap of paper in the room followed in his wake.

The evacuation alarms started blaring, a mere afterthought in John's mind as he Charged into the thicket of the enemy with Raven close behind. There were people to kill, people threatening his colony, and that wasn't something he would allow. Had he stayed long enough to see the result of his sudden entrance, he might've thought differently about so recklessly slamming people through walls, but that would be a lesson he learned at a later time.

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The classroom was emptied in a matter of seconds and the rest of the school was following them out as everyone made a mad dash for the busses that were parked on the roof. As they ran, the ground beneath them shook violently then stopped. A few seconds later it happened again. It was periodic and reoccurred every five seconds which could only mean one thing… the school was being bombarded by one of the ships in orbit.

It was a school which meant there were kids there all the time. It was, as a result, equipped with a military-grade kinetic barrier as a safety feature that, despite the coast of the unity, General Shepard had insisted be installed while the building was still under construction. The generator was buried a few meters below the foundation and the sharp fluctuations in its output were most likely what was causing the ground to rumble. That, however, wouldn't protect them for very long. Given the force of the rounds impacting the barrier, they were being hit by a ship that was already in the atmosphere which meant there was less time for air resistance to affect the speed of the round. They needed to evacuate the students and staff before the barrier collapsed, but at least they had a few more minutes than they would've without the barrier in place.

While one could argue that the school was only targeted **because** it had a barrier, the General had firmly argued that a school was worth the extra effort to protect. Thanks to his efforts and unbending will, the school was under attack, yes, but everyone would make it to safety long before they were ever truly in harm's way.

Unfortunately for some, not everyone knew that they weren't pressed for time, so everyone started running, shoving, pushing, and more than one person fell, but only one was too small to get back up on his own. It was fortunate for him, then, that he had at least one real friend. It was in a blur of pain that Sammy McKay first became aware of Tali speaking to him.

"You're going to be okay, but we need to keep moving," Tali assured him.

"I… I can't…" Sammy groaned as he held his ribs and tried to breath easy. "I can't breath!" he finally wheezed out.

Tali never answered his plea for help, but he did hear a different voice entirely shout something at them. Through eyes that were half squeezed shut from pain, Sammy managed to make out Tali working her Omni-tool under the table. Something was wrong, he knew that much, but he couldn't say what it was. Everything was starting to go dark.

"You're blaming us because the Humans saved our mining fleet from your damned slavers?" Tali replied in a voice that made Sammy feel oddly safe despite the fact that she was clearly pissed and worried.

"You're the ones who came into **our** space, vermin!" the Batarian, for it had to be a Batarian for him to be saying such a thing, snarled in reply.

The next sensation Sammy felt was his body being thrown to the ground, but he was eternally thankful that he had been when he noticed half of the desk he had been laying on was now splinters embedded in the wall above them. With a snap of electronics that Sammy knew all to well by now, Chitika von Paws materialized out of Tali's Omni-tool and Tali ordered, "Divide and conquer!"

There were electrical discharges and missiles whizzing through the air, but the Batarian still had the physical capacity to dodge the bulk of the incoming fire, though he did make the mistake of assuming the drone was the only threat. Sammy, however, knew all to well that Tali was far more than she appeared to be. When the unmistakable sound of a body hitting the ground reached his ears from a distance greater than that at which Tali stood from him, Sammy knew who the victor had been and, even though the Batarian was the one who was properly armed, he wasn't surprised to see Tali standing over him victoriously, but without the air of confident pride she had shown on the day she introduced them all to Chitika.

Tali darted away and returned with a shotgun a second later before addressing her drone again. "Keep watch," Tali ordered before turning back to Sammy. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"I think my ribs are bruised," he replied tightly, "but nothing feels broken."

"We can't go back the way we came," Tali said matter-of-factly, "and we can't stay here. We'll have to go that way."

"I know," Sammy replied as he opened his own Omni-tool and pressed a few buttons, "but we don't have to go alone."

A thud sounded a split second later and the wall that connected this class to the next cracked before another thud caved it in and LOKI came running up to them. "Good thing we fixed him," Tali said, her glowing eyes portraying a false smile. She then carefully snuck back over to the Batarian and grabbed his sidearm and a canteen before returning. She handed LOKI the pistol saying, "Can you differentiate between Human, Quarian, and Batarian bio-signatures?"

"_Affirmative,"_ LOKI replied.

"Then I hereby give you permission to kill anything Batarian," Tali said. "Can you carry him and aim at the same time?"

"_Affirmative."_

"Then let's get moving," Tali said as she took the lead.

"If only LOKI still had his submachineguns," Sammy said from his place on LOKI's back.

"LOKI's aim with that pistol should be enough, and there's always Chitika's barrier…" Tali trailed off before returning to the Batarian and pulling the barrier generator off of his back. With a bit of fancy wiring she managed to rig the generator and some random circuitry together before fastening the whole thing to a belt that she then handed to Sammy. "That'll keep you from taking a stray or getting hit in an ambush, but it's only going to be as good as the cheapest barrier on the market.

"Thanks," Sammy replied with a small smile.

Tali simply nodded in reply before ordering, "Chitika, watch their backs." The drone chirped in reply before Tali checked her gun one last time before nodding again and darting across the street, LOKI close behind her and Chitika closely following him.

The scream of a dying woman sounded from an alley further down the street, the scream closely followed by the discharge of more weapons fire. "We need to move," Tali said grimly as she ushered them forward and away from the sounds of gunfire.

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Had they stayed put for only a second longer, they would've discovered the source of those gunshots to be a friend. In the alley only a dozen or so meters away, James Vega stood over the body of a dead Batarian, the barrel of his rifle smoking as the heat-sink cooled down. He turned away from the Batarian and focused on the Alliance soldier lying in a growing pool of her own blood.

"You're Vega's kid, right?" the woman asked in a fading tone as she choked the words out past the blood in her mouth. "Take this," she said as she undid the clasp on her belt, "you're going to need them."

James reached down and gently lifted her body enough to get the belt out from under her. He then spent a small eternity kneeling over her fighting back his emotions. When he was sure she was dead, he stood up and tossed the belt over his shoulder. She was too skinny in the waste for the belt to fit him, but he made a point of being sure that it wouldn't slip off. With a belt equipped with a coolant system designed to hold twenty thermal clips, of which there were fifteen already in their gel pouches, James started down the alley towards the source of the Batarian that had killed the female Soldier.

He stalked forward, what training he had received from his Uncle while living in the Vault as a little kid taking over and guiding his actions. When he reached the mouth of the alley he put his back to the wall and leaned out of cover to check out the surrounding area. There were nearly twenty Batarians only a few yards down range, all of them entering and exiting houses in their search for new slaves. James stood there contemplating whether attacking was worth the wounds he was sure to suffer. He didn't have any armor, just the uniform the school forced him to wear; a skin tight shirt that didn't fit him right despite being the largest size they made, a pair of slacks, and dress shoes that weren't comfortable to run in.

He was outnumbered, but superiorly armed.

In the end, his mind was made up when he heard a scream of terror from one of the houses. His body was in motion before his brain could protest and he was darting across the street, rifle blazing. His legs pumped as hard as they could and his rifle put out a steady stream of bullets. He caught one of them off guard and managed to down another's barrier before his thermal clip overheated, but the heat-sink instantly picked up the slack. The second Batarian died at the same moment that James dove through the window of the house in question.

He landed with a roll and used his momentum to bring him back up to his feet. There was a woman standing guard over her two children, her husband lying dead at their feet and a Batarian with a shotgun making threatening gestures. The alien turned when James made his entrance and took the butt of James' rifle to his faceplate. The Batarian reeled back and stumbled over the body of the dead man before James kicked it in the chest hard enough to send it flying out of the window on the opposite side of the house that he had entered through himself.

"Take them to the bathroom and hide in the tub," James ordered the woman as he scooped up the alien's dropped weapon. When the woman made no motion to move, James grabbed her by the arm and half-shoved/half-threw her towards the stairs that led to the upper story. "Now!" he added with a snarl. When the woman started moving, her kids in tow, James flipped over the table and crouched down behind it.

The table was a fancier model than he'd expect to find in such a relatively poor district of the city, but that only served his advantage. The table was made of metal and was nearly two inches thick. The top of it had an intricately carved family tree etched into the surface with pictures of everyone and names to go with the pictures. Some of the pictures had a ring of floral design surrounding them while others simply had stars around them. The floral design was to honor the dead, the stars to honor the fallen soldiers. Judging by the number of pictures with stars around them, this was a military family and this table was probably their most prized possession.

The Batarian James had kicked out of the window was the first to attack. It jumped through the window, Omni-tool glowing, and fired off a barrage of ballistic blades that impacted and dug into the table. James stood up and fired the Batarian's own weapon at him. The first two blasts took down its shields before the third tore its chest to pieces. The shotgun started beeping, a clear sign that it was overheated, so James switched it out for his rifle.

Three Batarians stormed through the door all at once, their weapons raised, and James gave them all he could. The first one lost its barrier and life in short succession, but his clip was already low and there were two more to go. The clip gave out just before he could kill the second one and the built-in heat-sink wasn't going to last more than a dozen shots. It was, however, enough to put two bullets into the Batarian causing the alien to stumbled back, but that also left James with two overheated weapons, the need to reload, and an untouched enemy jumping over his cover with a pistol in hand.

So James did the only thing he could. As the Batarian jumped over the table, James kicked it as hard as he could. The act of the metal slab sliding back as the Batarian jumped forward made it loose its balance and land face-first on the floor, its pistol sliding out of its reach. James reached over and picked it up, but he knew it wouldn't be able to take down the alien's shield before overheating, so he fired at the already wounded Batarian. With those two down, there was only the one left.

With his three weapons overheated and no time to swap out the thermal clip in his rifle, James had to think fast, and think fast he did. He scrambled to his feet and rushed over to the table. He flipped over it just in time to avoid another barrage of ballistic blades. This simultaneously saved his life two ways. On one hand, he had avoided a death-blow, on the other… he had an idea.

Bracing a foot against the scared metal, James managed to rip one of the blades out of the tabletop. Knife in hand, he ducked around the table and slide into cover behind one of the two couches in the living room. He snuck around to the Batarian's back and readied to pounce, but, as he jumped at the Batarian, the alien spun around and delivered a kick to his chest that floored the young man and knocked the breath out of him.

'_Right,'_ James thought to himself, _'motion sensors are standard issue these days.'_

James managed to regain his senses in time to roll out of the way of a shot aimed at his head before stabbing his knife into the only easily accessible week spot on the Batarian's armor; the knee joint. The Batarian hissed in pain, but James was still moving. With a powerful kick of his own, James drove the knife all the way through the Batarian's armored knee, the kick also causing the Batarian to fall to the ground, his joint now thoroughly shattered. James scrambled to his feet and delivered a second kick to the Batarian's head, the blow disorienting but not lethal. Nevertheless, it bought him the time he needed to reload his rifle.

By the time the Batarian recovered, its barrier was down and its chest was riddled with bullets. With his last opponent dispatched, James hid behind a wall and tried to catch his breath. He shifted his weight and winced in pain. As the adrenaline in his system started to ebb away, he could feel the bruise patterns on his back where he had landed on his terminal clips, the small cylinders leaving a large trail of bruised muscle where they had dug into the muscle.

It was then that James finally took notice of the sounds around him. He could hear the woman and her children crying somewhere above him, but there were also explosions, gunfire, and violent impacts coming from outside. Very carefully, James made his way to a window and looked out to see two Human biotics tearing their way through the remaining Batarian force.

One of them, a female judging by her build, lifted her hands and let the glow that consumed her body wash over the surrounding area. She then brought her hands together, and, when she clapped, every window that lined the street shattered into hundreds of razor sharp shards. These shards then swarmed around the Batarians like an angry insect hive. Just as James had targeted the weakest point in their armor, so too did the biotic. Every Batarian not wearing a helmet had their face shredded as their barriers failed to stop the shards because they weren't moving fast enough to trigger their armor's defenses. Those who were wearing a full set of armor had their joints targeted. Necks were cut open, arms were severed at the elbow, knees were cut off… it was a blood bath that consumed the lives of another six Batarians.

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Raven jumped back and brought her hands up, her biotics solidifying into a bubble around her just in time to bring the ballistic blades aimed at her chest to a cold halt several inches from her flesh. She then pushed her arms forward and shoved her barrier, blades still embedded in the Mass Effect field, at the Batarian who attacked her with all the force she could muster. The barrier's energy destabilized at Raven's prompting and instantly became a Shockwave, one that raced down the street kicking up rocks and other debris. By the time it finally impacted her target area, Raven was pushing a small house forward at the speed of an Earth Age bullet-train. Needless to say, the two Batarians she caught in the blast were completely flattened under the blow.

John disappeared from her side in a streak of motion, the wake of his Charge leaving a tingling sensation in the air that only another biotic could feel. She let him go, powerless to stop him, but threw up a barrier around him. As John decelerated, his own destabilized before expanding into a Nova blast. Weapons fire bounced off the barrier that surrounded him and Raven took an unsteady step forward. Sustaining a barrier was one thing, but sustaining one around someone else who was any measurable distance away from the source was draining on even the best of biotics.

With a feeling as if she were simply letting go, Raven let her power flow from her core to her hand before leaving her body. The energy coalesced into a roughly spherical shape before curving up just enough to 'impact' above the car two of the Batarians were using for cover. The Singularity expanded with a pulse of gravitational energy and the two were drug up into the air to orbit around its core. Raven was readying a Warp to finish them off, but stumbled again when the barrier she had around John fought to shrug off a swarm of ballistic blades.

Her Singularity destabilized too, but held long enough for weapons fire to tear the two Batarians apart. She let the biotic sphere fade away, silently thanking the unknown ally, and looked over to John. It had been thirty seconds since he Charged. His barrier should be back up by now. Raven stemmed the energy that was flowing out of her body and took a deep breath to steady her aching limbs. Three more biotic fields detonated, all of them John's doing. Raven was only aware of his actions through the ripples in the air his attacks left, the shifting Mass Effect fields touched her body and she felt them through her own biotics as a sort of sixth sense.

She could feel the buildup of power in John's body that meant he was getting ready to Charge, so she flicked out her wrist and latched onto his back with a thin thread of biotic energy. At the exact moment he Charged, Raven reduced her mass to nearly zero and merely road along in his wake.

John could feel her there. His ability to sense Mass Effect fields wasn't nearly as good as Raven's, but he could feel **her** fields better than he could anyone else's. Hell, he could sense her emotions through the fluctuations in the fields she emitted without thinking. He dragged her along behind him, her body flying above him as if he were a young boy flying a kite. He knew what all she did for him, it was their relationship in combat. By now it came as a subconscious reflex that neither of them really realized was there. They were a team, and that mentality had been drilled into them from day one. Their team, however, was one man short with their Sentinel not present, but Kaiden Alenko was already in boot camp training to be an actual soldier. He was the only one in their class that had been old enough to enlist fresh out of BAaT.

When John decelerated from his Charge, Raven landed beside him, her lethal jacket a little dusty but she, herself, untouched aside from the first time she'd been shot. Her barrier always was better than his, and John had tried holding off a grenade earlier. Needless to say, his shirt was nearly entirely burnt away, slightly bloodied, and torn to ribbons. There were only a few threads left holding the piece of cloth to his body. Under the cloth, his torso was covered in minor burns, cuts, and the occasional bullet hole, but he was still alive and kicking with no plan to slow down anytime soon.

His biotics allowed him to feel things that others couldn't, but everyone in the city felt it when the barrier protecting the school finally collapsed. The popping of the barrier itself sent a blast of air-displacement-generated wind rushing over the ground. The round that impacted the building shortly after then sent vibrations through the ground that caused some already damaged buildings to collapse. The only good thing about the situation was that it had been a fighter that fired the round, otherwise the whole city-block would've been leveled.

The reason the school fell to a Fighter was simple; the Frigate that had weakened its barrier to this point had been chased off by the two Quarian Frigates assigned to the Mindoir Defense Fleet. Their attack run on the Batarian Frigate had saved the school and an entire city block from a round that would've leveled everything for miles, but had left the orbital defenses lacking enough that the Alliance Cruiser leading the defense fleet had been forced down into the atmosphere.

Even from this distance, it was clear that the hull of the _SSV Elbrus_ was aflame and that the ship had several hull breaches across its surface. The fleet was losing the battle for orbit, but they would hold on for all they were worth, and Alliance ships are worth double their Turian counterparts. How unfortunate then, for the Batarians, that Hegemony ships couldn't match their Turian equivalents, and the rest of the MDF would already be en route by now. It was just a matter of holding out…

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Dust filled the air as the pulverized remains of the school drifted along the air current created by the popping of the barrier. Tali wasn't affected by the sight-inhibiting darkness, nor did she cough as she tried not to breathe in the dust. Sammy, however, didn't have such luxuries provided to him by a hermetically sealed environmental suit. He could barely make out Tali's outline, her body silhouetted against the darkness as a faintly glowing purple object against the brown and grey dust.

"Tali! Get into cover!" Sammy shouted.

Tali's form twitched back as her barrier snapped out of existence and Sammy knew she was hit, but she didn't go down. She raised her shotgun and fired again, her attacker finally succumbing to her rage. Only then did she duck behind cover to let her barrier regenerate.

A glow even brighter than Tali's barrier briefly emanated from within the dust before a glowing orb struck her cover. It was then that Sammy realized why Tali was fighting the way she was. She was clearing out the minor hostiles so she could fight the biotic without any interference.

"Put me down," Sammy ordered.

"_Affirmative,"_ LOKI replied as it carefully set him down behind cover.

Sammy activated his control interface, the holographic suit mostly hidden by the dust, and marched the robot forward into the dust where it would remain hidden while he, himself, crouched down inside the fountain to keep out of sight. All the while he watched Tali. His timing had to be perfect. She leaned out of cover and fired off another two shots before her stolen weapon overheated and Sammy silently cursed that they didn't have a standard issue Alliance weapon. Tali, however, already had a plan. She poured what was left of her stolen canteen onto the shotgun, a small cloud of steam rising into the already dusty air as a soft white-grey against the brown dust, and the gun rapidly cooled.

Just as Tali got her gun back into working order, the biotic Batarian was on her. Sammy nearly panicked and almost had LOKI charge at the Batarian prematurely, but he knew he had to wait for that precise moment, so he let Tali handle herself. Thankfully she managed to pull the trigger of her gun before the Batarian could. The blast knocked the Batarian back, but the timing was still off; he still needed to wait. Tali scrambled away from the alien in an effort to gain distance and Sammy brought LOKI closer, the robot moving like a ghost in the dust cloud.

Tali stumbled and fell as her barrier barely managed to hold off a direct blow from what looked like a Warp. She landed on her stomach and quickly rolled over to face her pursuer and Sammy was able to see that the Batarian had already been in a fight with an Alliance Combat Engineer or Sentinel judging by the missing half of his burnt-off helmet.

Tali drew her hand back, her Omni-tool crackling with energy as she gathered power from her suit's generator. Now was the time. As Tali threw the Overload at the Batarian, the biotic alien sidestepped the attack and walked directly into LOKI's waiting embrace. Sammy wrapped his arms around the Batarian and squeezed with all of the hydraulic power in the robot's arms. The Batarian let his biotics flare and a barrier manifested between his body and the crushing strength in LOKI's unnatural body.

Tali wasn't having any of that. She drew back her arm again, Omni-tool flaring to life a second time, and slapped the Batarian across the face with a chemical paste trapped in a shell of hardened light that burst into flames when exposed to the oxygen in the air. The Incendiary mine impacted the unprotected side of the Batarian's head and left it screaming in pain. LOKI dropped the Batarian and took a few steps back to avoid the chemical fire, but Tali had no such regard for personal safety. She pounced on the downed Batarian, her weapon firing until it overheated then she went back to the Stone Age and used the shotgun as a club. It wasn't until Sammy used LOKI to grab the weapon from her that Tali finally stopped beating the long-dead Batarian.

"Come on, Tali," Sammy practically pleaded as he had LOKI help her to her feet. "We need to keep moving."

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Only a few blocks away from the site of their struggle, countless others were taking place, but only one of them would end in a way that mattered to Sammy and his guardian angel. Just outside of the dust cloud that covered the residential district of Konstante, James Vega was fighting for his life and the lives of those around him.

He was bunkered down behind cover, his rifle the only weapon he had left. There were nearly twenty people of various ages, sexes, and races behind him, the shotgun and pistol given to those who were the most capable of using them. They were being slowly overrun and he had the only gun worth using in a fight. He was also the only one not protecting a family member.

Bullets flew over his head and James turned to the Quarian had given the pistol. "You take these people and you go down South Main Street. Once you reach Stars Avenue, take a left and head east towards Memorial Drive. The nearest evacuation shelter is under the recreational center about five miles from here. It'll be well defended so the closer you get, the safer you'll be."

"What about you?" the Quarian asked.

"Somebody has to hold the line," James replied in a level tone. "Go!" he added as he popped out of cover and fired until both his heat-sink and terminal clip were glowing red-hot. When the thermal clip popped out of his rifle, James caught it with the hand he was wearing the customary thermal glove on. Without this piece of lightweight fabric, the superheated thermal clip would've burnt through his hand in a matter of seconds. With it, he could hold the clip in his hand for over a minute before the heat started to affect him, not that he had any reason for holding the thing that long. It only took a second to tuck it into its coolant pouch, pull out, and chamber the next clip.

Thankfully no one argued. They all broke from cover and ran down the narrow street as fast as they could, the vehicles and upturned city objects providing enough cover to allow them to escape without taking anymore casualties. With the civilians on the move, it was time to go on the offense. He let them take the weapons, dreading that they would need them but hoping that they wouldn't. That left him barely armed, but still better off than the civvies were.

He spent another thermal clip before swapping that one out too and let his heat-sink cool before jumping his cover and charging the enemy position. His rifle sent a steady stream of hyper-accelerated projectiles down range and the Batarians either fell to the ground or ducked behind cover. Those that ducked survived. Those that didn't were riddled with bullet holes by a young man charging their position with a rifle blazing and a war cry echoing off of the buildings around them.

He was a distraction, a sacrificial piece designed to allow the others a measurable amount of hope. He had but one job; to allow them a chance at escaping this hell so that they might live to see another day. His wasn't the task of killing all the hostiles, it was just to make sure they didn't follow the civvies before they had a chance to escape. Nevertheless, he had been raised in a Vault full of soldiers. Marines had raised him and instilled in him their virtues. He would most likely die here, but he wouldn't die alone. No, he would take as many of these damned aliens to hell with him as he possibly could!

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The sounds of gunfire were becoming uncomfortably familiar to Kasumi. She was scared, lost, and confused. She knew this city like the back of her hand, had lived here for six years, and now she couldn't even figure out which street she was on. She knew she was at the edge of the dust cloud that used to be her school, but that was all she knew. She didn't know how much of an area the dust covered so there was no telling how far from the school she was so she didn't know where the recreational center was either. She was as lost as she possibly could be, but she had a guide.

"Just stay calm," the man before her whispered. "I'll get you to safety, I promise." His body tensed when a sound Kasumi couldn't hear reached his ears and Kasumi immediately froze in place. "When it starts, I want you to run. Don't say anything and don't scream. Just run," he instructed her.

Kasumi nodded, her motion hidden behind a hard-light camouflage system developed by the Salarians and reverse-engineered by Cerberus. She didn't know that, of course. All she knew was that this man was the only person who wanted to keep her safe. The rest wanted to take her as a slave.

There was a motion made that happened so fast Kasumi didn't even realize it was actually real until the flash of a gun made her flinch. The man was firing, his weapons making a loud noise that defied the quite guns of their age. The bullets fired flew through the air so fast they couldn't be seen, but that was always true of guns. What really made this gun strange, in Kasumi's eyes, was the red streak of light that the bullet left in its wake.

Two pistols, one in each hand, and the man was spinning in a circle, both weapons blazing. There was a 'thump-boom' as the gun fired, a red streak of the bullet, and a Batarian went down with a crater where its heart should've been. Another succumbed to an equally massive hole in its head. A third had its arm blown off. The pattern of destruction and death was circular. The man stood in the center of that circle and spun. If he was hit by a round, his body flowed with the impact. A shotgun round to his shoulder made him spin halfway around, but didn't stop him from shooting another three people before his spin stopped.

Whoever he was, his barrier was strong enough to take a beating. There must've been no less than thirty Batarians surrounding them, but the man never stopped, or, rather, if he did… Kasumi wasn't there to see it. A bullet came too close to hitting her for her liking so she did as she was earlier instructed and she ran in whichever direction she happened to be facing. She ran as fast as she could for as long as she could and didn't stop until she tripped over the body of a dead Batarian who was riddled with bullet holes that hadn't left craters in its body like her guardian had.

Kasumi's body was racked with silent sobs as she fought back her tears. She had to keep moving, had to get help. She couldn't just leave that man there to die. Kasumi struggled to her feet and looked up to see a very familiar shape lying on the ground. If she hadn't spent so many hours staring at the back of the boy's head, Kasumi probably wouldn't have recognized James' beat-up and broken form.

"No, not you too!" Kasumi said as she stumbled over to James, who was lying on the ground, shirtless and bleeding, and the tears started to leak out. To her surprise, however, her words caused him to not only move, but to draw a gun on her. "Oh thank god!" Kasumi cried as she pressed the invisible button on her invisible hand. It was a task that was harder to perform than she would've thought, but she got it done. "You're not dead! Here, I have medi-gel," Kasumi said as she fumbled in her pockets for the packets of the life-saving gel that her guardian had given her.

"Kasumi?" James asked, his voice tired. "Is that you?"

"Yeah," Kasumi replied as she opened the first packet and applied it to the bullet holes in his chest. Had the young man not been wounded and bleeding and had she not been in a state of shock, Kasumi probably would've enjoyed the feeling of James' warm body and hard muscles, but she had something else to keep her focus; his life.

Kasumi applied the medi-gel without the handy injector that allowed the stuff to be put into the blood stream to encourage white blood cell production and seal the wound, so she had to go the extra mile of actually shoving her gel-coated finger into the larger holes in James' body. To his credit, James grunted in pain but let her finish patching him up regardless of her lack of knowledge of what she was doing and the fact that it had to hurt to have someone's finger **inside** your body. All she knew about medi-gel was that you were supposed to spread it over and into the wound so that's what she did.

"Do you still remember your name?" Kasumi asked in a worried tone.

"I haven't been hit in the head," he replied with a crooked smile, "yet."

"I lost my guardian," Kasumi said as her hands started shaking again. "We came under fire and I ran. I was invisible but I still ran. I… shouldn't have left him."

"Calm down, Kasumi," James said as he got to his feet with a grunt of painful exertion. "Where did you leave him?" he asked as he picked up his rifle.

"Back that way a few blocks," she replied as she looked back behind her.

"We need to group up with whoever we can and make a break for the shelters," James said as he grabbed his glowing thermal clips and slid them into their coolant slots. "A trained soldier would be a lot of help in that regard."

Kasumi nodded, still fighting back her tears, and pressed the button on her arm. "He's this way."

With James relying on her to guide him, Kasumi knew she needed to leave a visible trail for him to follow so she dragged her feet through the grass, the ripples her passing made was more than enough for the trained tracker to keep up with a great deal of ease. The soldier in him and his raising in the Vault had him sticking to cover whenever possible and darting across open spaces when it wasn't. By the time Kasumi retraced her steps back to where she had left her guardian, there was nothing left but nearly forty dead Batarians, but no Human body to be seen.

James knelt down over one of the Batarians and examined the wounds. He picked a metal fragment out of a Batarian's chest, smelt the air, and ran his hand over the gaping holes in the advanced armor systems the Batarians had been using. "A bullet that can bypass shields, Disruptor Ammo. Rounds that can smash through heavy armor, Armor-Piercing Ammo. Ammo that can burn flesh, Incendiary Rounds. A bullet that shatters on impact, Anti-Personnel Rounds. A bullet that can do all of that in one go has to be Harpoon Rounds," James said as he finished his examination. "Your guardian works for Cerberus."

"I don't care," Kasumi's voice replied from the center of the circle. In her mind's eye, she was reliving the entire scene including the parts she hadn't stuck around for. It was strange, but she could **see** the paths the bullets would've taken, **feel** the movements he would've made. Hell, she was even sure she knew the exact **order** everyone had died in. It would be a while before she realized it, but Kasumi was a very special young girl. "He saved me from the slavers. That's the only thing I care about," she said with a tone of finality.

A Fighter above them took a GARDIAN beam to its engines and careened out of control before crashing into a tall building towards the center of the colony. Kasumi looked at the smoke now billowing out of one of the few skyscrapers in Down-town Konstante and silently hopped that the building was fully evacuated. Her hopes were doubled when the building began to crumble as its structural integrity gave out. As the tower came crashing down, Kasumi had a flashback to her days on Earth.

It was the anniversary of September Eleventh and they were holding a memorial for all the people who had died in the attacks on the American World Trade Centers. They also had a moment of silence for the firefighters who had died trying to pull people out of the wreckage. There was one girl who cried during the ceremony. Kasumi remembered comforting her as she cried about her father being in the war. All of it seemed so trivial after World War III, but they had survived that. If there was one thing humanity was good at, it was surviving even when the odds were stacked against them.

Almost as if this memory were some sort of cue, a bright light filled the sky and one of the Batarian Cruisers in orbit shattered under fire from the badly damaged and nearly crippled _Elbrus_. Even leaking atmosphere, barriers down, giant holes in the armor and what was left of the protective shell straining to hold back the onslaught, the _Elbrus_'s crew was far from giving up. The Cruiser was pushing back with everything it had. Both of its cannons were firing as fast as they could and its missile pods were sending lethal barrages into the Batarian formation at point blank range as the Cruiser entered the knife-fight ranges that were favored by Frigate Wolf Packs. The _Elbrus_ wasn't pushing **back**, it was pushing **up**. Tired of being pinned between the enemy fleet and the planet below, the _Elbrus_'s engines were straining to push the Cruiser's mass out of the gravity well and into the heart of the Batarian formation, the rest of the MDF at its back. Despite the state of the joint Human/Quarian fleet, the Batarians were loosing ground.

"We need to keep moving," James said as he started walking off.

"Where are we going?" Kasumi asked as she followed him, his voice having pulled her attention back to their own plight.

"We need to find more people that are still fighting and group up then we need to find any civilians caught in the crossfire and get them to the shelters. Do you have a gun?" he asked.

"No, but I have a knife," Kasumi replied, the blade in her hand.

"Here, take this pistol," James ordered as he stooped down to pick up a pistol from the ground. "You're useful as a scout, but an armed scout is better."

"I can't aim," Kasumi admitted timidly. Her head was hanging low, but she knew that James couldn't see that.

"Shots fired from an undeterminable location will help throw them off guard even if you can't hit anything. Take the pistol," James insisted.

Kasumi reached out and took the gun, the weapon disappearing from James' hand, but still barely visible to her own eyes. Kasumi came to the rightful conclusion that her guardian's weapon must've been specially designed to maintain its sights when used while cloaked; just another part of her 'special' nature and another reason Cerberus was interested in her.

"Alright, Kasumi, scout out ahead and let me know where the Batarians are," James ordered.

}{ }{ }{ }{ }{ }{ }{ }{ }{ }{ }{ }{ }{

On the rooftops above them, Anderson jumped from one building to the next, the powered joints in his armor allowing him to clear the streets below despite the distance. He was already nearly a mile away from the site of his last battle. He would've gone looking for the girl, but she had the cloak and he had seen his charges running towards the largest group of Batarians they could find. He had a job to do, and he would get it done.

Some distance down the street he saw a streak of motion, a blur of movement too fast to fully follow; a biotic Charge. Anderson jumped again, hit the lower roof at a roll, and got to the edge in time to see a blue woman kneeling over a Batarian on the ground. "Find peace in the embrace of the Goddess," the woman said before snapping the Batarian's neck.

Behind her, a body slammed into the ground with enough force to make the entire block shake. Beneath this body was the splattered remains of some unfortunate victim mutilated beyond all recognition. Behind that figure, a whole squad of Batarians stormed around a corner, weapons at the ready. Anderson saw this take place and dove off of the roof, his intention to tackle the Asari to the side before she could be harmed, but the figure at the end of the street acted first.

Raven, for it had to be her, slammed her hands together, palms flat. Her body glowed as her biotics flared, and the entire area was wrapped in an immobilizing field of energy. Anderson froze halfway through his dive, the Batarians became statures, and even the Asari found herself unable to resist the raw power of the Stasis field that had wrapped itself around the entire intersection. So great was the power that Raven's body was surrounded by that a shadow created by the light being trapped inside the field darkened the whole area, the Mass Effect field greatest at its center and leaving only a dark silhouette visible through the darkness.

With a thud of deceleration, John dropped out of his Charge and slapped his own hand, palm also flat, against the wall of the nearest building; a three-story business. His biotics wrapped around the building like a blanket surrounding a small child. There was a pulse of Warp energy and the bottom floor was turned into a cloud of particles held together through the strength of John's will alone. The upper two stories creaked, cracked, groaned, and tilted towards the street. Raven opened her hands and flicked her wrists.

One thin thread of biotic energy attached itself to John's back, the other to a building further up the block closer to Anderson and the Asari. With a snap of energy, Raven pulled John back towards her and herself towards the building she was anchored to. The duo flew back and both biotics let their fields go. The Stasis field dropped as John's will stopped holding up the building. Two out of three stories of the small business center came crashing down on just over twenty Batarians, the whole lot of them dying as the ruble crushed them under the bricks, metal, drywall, wires, pipes, and other building materials.

Anderson, now released from Stasis, landed flat on his stomach, his forward momentum lost when the Stasis field had trapped him. Shrugging off the blow to his ego, Anderson pushed himself to his feet and hurried to place himself between the Asari and the two young Humans. Already John was preparing to Charge and Raven had a Warp readied in one hand. On the other side of the street, the Asari's barrier was at max, but conflict here would only cause trouble down the road.

Anderson didn't bother trying to talk the situation down. Instead, he tossed out a Lift Grenade that caught John halfway between his target and his point of departure. Anderson was halfway there, nearly between Raven and the Asari when Raven's barrier flashed and the young girl collapsed. Anderson skidded to a halt and looked up to see a Batarian sniper on the roofs above them. He didn't even waste time swearing. He pulled his own sniper rifle from his back and pulled the trigger the moment the barrel was lined up with the rooftop in question.

He didn't bother aiming, he had no need to. The High Explosive Round combined with the Assassination setting slammed into the building and blew a forth of the structure away. The Batarian was dead, but so was Raven. He had failed his assigned task.

"Raven!" John shouted as he floated in the Lift field. Anderson was just about to cancel the field generated by the reusable Lift grenade when John slammed a Throw into the source of the field. The grenade and the field both detonated and John tumbled out, his barrier shimmering. He landed next to her and knelt down at her side.

He scooped the young girl up in her arms and Anderson ran over beside them. He was relieved to find the girl was still alive. "Wh…" Raven began before raising her hand to her face and finding it to be covered in blood. She could feel the effect it was having on her body even if she couldn't feel the wound itself. She had been shot. The lack of feeling in her legs… "What happ…" With a shudder in her breath, Raven passed out.

"Raven!" John shouted at her.

"Roll her over, but be gentle," Anderson said as he pulled out his medi-gel injector. Anderson ran a few scans after applying the gel and swore under his breath. "Her spinal cord's been severed. She'll live, but she'll need medical attention not available in the Alliance if she's going to walk again."

"The Asari Republics have dealt with this kind of wound before. There is a procedure we can perform that will assure her recovery," the Asari said as she walked over to them.

"The Asari aren't the only ones who can deal with a wound like this," Anderson said as he very gently lifted her. "Cerberus has mastered the art of cloning limbs lost in battle. We can fix her spine too."

"Then you are David Anderson, the Cerberus agent who meddled in my quest to prevent the Turian SPECTRE from escaping after he killed an innocent bystander," the Asari more stated then asked.

"Now is not the time," Anderson replied. "I need to get her to one of the evac shelters where she can be kept stable long enough for proper care to be administered."

The two of them continued on arguing, but John had already left. He had to. His sense of family compelled him to leave her there and chase after another. It wasn't until Anderson managed to talk the Asari into dealing with Cerberus at a later point in time that he realized the other biotic was missing, but that was still quick enough for him to see which direction John had gone… and the reason he left.

"Take her!" Anderson said as he handed Raven to the Asari. "Get her to the Town Hall in the center of the city and they'll take care of her. I have to go after him."

"I will do as you ask, but known this; we will meet again and there will be nothing to stop me from killing you," the Asari assured him.

"Then I'll look forward to that day if only because it means that I survived this one," Anderson replied before running off. He was taking a risk trusting the Asari, but it was a risk he couldn't avoid, not if he was going to save John.

}{ }{ }{ }{ }{ }{ }{ }{ }{ }{ }{ }{ }{

His reason for leaving was simple. He had seen Amy trapped in a cage being carted around on some twisted version of a truck the Batarians were using to haul their new slaves back to the transports they had landed sometime during the fighting. His sister was screaming and fighting back, a clear sign that she was alive and he wasn't about to loose another family member to these aliens. His mom was safely tucked away in Mindoir High Command where she was the head of the medical department so he didn't have to worry about her, but his sister was in danger.

John rounded the corner they had rounded only moments before and received the shock of his life when a stun grenade detonated right in front of him. His eyes burned from the brightness of the Magnesium being heated. His ears hurt from the sonic boom that had pounded against his eardrums. His body was also tensed by the electrical current that had been sent through his flesh. He had lost control of his muscles when his central nervous system was overloaded.

"You've been causing me more trouble than you're worth," a Batarian said as he stood over him. "But I'm willing to overlook that because I know you're going to behave now." There was a clicking noise and a new weight on John's shoulders as a collar was fastened around his neck. "If you so much as glow, this collar will… incentivize you to not use your biotics. When you've been broken and turned to see the glory of the Hegemony, the collar will be removed and you will be a weapon against the blight on galactic purity that is the Human race. Know this, Human, your kind's days are numbered."

John lashed out and kicked at the source of the voice, but he missed. His foot was thrown off target when the collar around his neck sent a blast of lightning into his body. He lay there, twitching on the ground, powerless to stop the Batarian from throwing him into another of the cages on the back of the truck. He could feel the vehicle moving, but he could also hear his name being called.

"John," Amy called to him. "Jonny!" she cried. "Wake up!" she pleaded. John groaned in reply and rolled over to show he was still alive… barely. "I'm scared. I wanna go home."

"It's okay," John whispered, his throat soar and his voice hoarse as a result. "I'm here, Amy. It's okay." They weren't the only two captives in the cages, but they were the only two respectively scared and brave enough to utter a sound. The rest of them just cried and whimpered.

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Outnumbered. That was the only thing going through Tali's mind right now. She was outnumbered by an unimaginably large force. She was injured, her suit was ruptured, she was swimming in antibiotics, and, just to top it all off, LOKI was dead. The only good thing that the two of them had going for them in terms of luck was that Sammy had managed to salvage enough of LOKI's generator to rig up a barrier for himself. Oh, and they still had the pistol the robot had been wielding, but that wasn't much help at this point.

"Tali, I count more than thirty," Sammy said, his voice full of fear. "We need to fallback."

"To where?" Tali asked, her tone desperate. She was on the brink of tears. The only thing keeping her going at this point was Sammy. If she was too young to die, than he was far too young to be made a slave by the Batarians. She had to protect him, she just had to. "If we can make it across the street, the…"

Whatever Tali was saying was cut short when a rocket impacted the car she was using for cover. The rocket caused the aircar to explode and Tali was sent flying into a wall with enough force to crack her faceplate. She was stunned, disoriented, and she couldn't feel her body anymore. She heard gunshots, felt her barrier collapse, and felt the two new bullet holes in her back before the shooting got louder, a clear sign that the shooter was closer.

Behind the stunned Quarian, Sammy stood his ground, pistol raised and firing. The Batarian eyed him through the ripples in his barrier with a sense of amusement. When Sammy's pistol overheated, the Batarian outright laughed at him before pulling a large metal ring from one of his pockets.

"You'll make a fine addition to my household," the Batarian said as he stepped forward.

Sammy felt his feet leave the ground as his body was pitched to the side. He fell on his shoulder with a hard thud and heard the blast of a shotgun. The Batarian's body reeled back, now headless, and toppled over. In his place stood the enraged Quarian who had saved Sammy's life more times now than he could count and it had only been half a day of constant fighting.

Tali's barrier was still down and there was an unsteadiness to her stance. She was at her limit, and Sammy knew it. To make matters worse, they were being shot at and both of their weapons were overheated at this point.

'_God, if you truly do exist, now would be one hell of a time to prove it,'_ Sammy prayed a silent prayer.

He wasn't sure who he was praying for, if it was for his own safety or hers, but he meant it either way. He was never religious and he honestly didn't think anything would happen other than Tali dying in his defense and him following her to the grave. He was, therefore, pleasantly surprised when a blue steak of light blurred past them before detonating amongst the Batarians.

Another blue streak appeared before Tali and a blue woman held her arms out and projected a barrier large enough to protect all three of them… four, actually. The Asari was holding a young woman about Tali's age, her limp body thrown over one shoulder to allow her the use of at least one hand. A third streak blasted out of the Asari's hand and delivered a blow to a Batarian that sent half of its body flying, the other half simply falling to the ground, void of all life. Weapons fire tore through the air following in the wake of the biotic as a bare-chested young man playing soldier walked out from between the buildings and unloaded what seemed to be an entire arsenal's amount of ammo into the Batarians that had taken over the street.

A flicker of light surrounded another form as another young girl appeared out of thin air and caught Tali as she fell to the ground, her body riddled with bullet holes and her suit beyond any reasonable repair. Medi-gel packets were produced from pockets and minor medical skills were put to work, but it wouldn't be enough. At this point, Tali needed a real hospital and she needed one now if she was to survive. Sammy was sure he was only slightly better off, but right now he only cared that Tali got the help she needed. His wounds weren't as serious because his immune system still worked. The sun was still up, though it was setting by now due to the lateness of the hour. It had been nearly thirteen hours of fighting since the Batarians arrived and they were almost to safety.

"Put me down," the young woman slung over the Asari's back demanded. "I can still work a barrier," she added when the Asari failed to relent to her demand.

"Try not to over exert yourself," the Asari said as, despite the amount of fire impacting her barrier, she managed to set Raven down without causing her any more pain. "I will return shortly," the Asari said before streaking off at a rapid speed.

She landed amongst the Batarians and let her barrier pulse into a Nova before turning that into an Annihilation Field. She more strolled than ran, but her every step crossed a great amount of distance and her biotics continuously ate away at the barriers and armor of her enemies. Back on the defenders side of the street, the young girl was glowing softly as her body rose into the air as her barrier took fire from whoever wasn't engaging the Asari.

Raven let her biotics pulse and her barrier became a field of tendrils. Like snakes in the grass, the threads of biotic energy slid along the ground before wrapping around her targets. Once she had ten of the Batarians immobilized in this fashion, Raven pulled back and the threads thickened until they were tentacles as thick as an octopus's.

Just like the large, multi-armed octopus she was imitating, Raven hurled her captives into other Batarians, walls, aircars, or continuously bashed them into any other solid object she could find. It was a trap she had perfected through months of intensive practice, one that John knew how to trigger to a great degree, but he wasn't here and she couldn't feel his biotic aura anymore. The Batarians she had captured in her threads hadn't escaped untouched. Sure they were thrown by her power, but, what really made the attack a trap, was the lingering field of biotic energy that laced their bodies.

Being a fellow biotic, however, the Asari sensed Raven's fields and Charged back out of the thicket. She skidded to a halt beside Raven before slamming a Warp field into Raven's barrier. Where threads had become tentacles, tentacles had reverted back to threads. Those threads connected Raven to her victims and the Asari's Warp triggered the detonation sequence. The barrier she used to protect herself was, in turn, coated in another biotic field, one that responded to the blue woman's Warp with a biotic detonation that traveled through those threads like a fire traveling down a detonation wire.

The reaction was far faster, however, and the Batarians didn't have enough time to respond before ten of their own simply blew up with the full force of a biotic detonation. Fifteen Batarians killed in one move with only ten more to go. Raven smiled, a dark twisting of her facial features, and pooled her biotic energy into a Shockwave. She drew her arms back and prepared her blow, another freight train of rubble, but stopped when the pain in her back spiked.

Raven flinched, but she had a job to do. She continued to gather her biotic energy until she was ready then, with only the sheer force of her will, Raven sent that freight train of rubble hurtling towards the entrenched position the remaining Batarians were using for cover. Despite being hidden behind solid cover, the wall of debris and wreckage Raven sent flying at her enemies leveled everything in its path including the Batarians and their cover. The last of them died and Raven collapsed once again, the Asari catching her on her way down.

"I warned you about over exerting yourself," the Asari said as she eased Raven to the ground. "Go and warn the guards," she said to the young Human male she had encountered along the way.

James nodded in reply and took off sprinting. There was only one block left between them and the bunker, and that block was locked down by Alliance soldiers. If Samara rounded the corner before they were warned, she was likely to be attacked. Rather than risk this, she sent a message ahead of them. He returned promptly with several more soldiers in tow and a field medic. Samara stepped back to allow them room to work and waited patiently. Finally one of the soldiers addressed her, but this one was different. He wore the clothes of a high ranking military official.

"Thank you," the man said, a tear in his eye.

"I did as the Code compelled," Samara replied. She didn't quite understand the man's reaction.

"She's my daughter," the man said as the young biotic woman was carried off, the Quarian likewise being carried out on a stretcher. "That makes it personal. I owe you a debt of gratitude I feel I may never repay. Thank you," he said again. "You're free to accompany us and have any wounds looked at. We can offer you food as well."

"I appreciate your kindness, but I cannot rest easy while other are yet in danger," Samara replied.

"Our reinforcements have arrived and the Batarians are in a full retreat," the man said as he pointed to the skies above them. "The only thing left now is the business of the slaves, but we have a plan for that too."

**}{ }{ }{ }{ }{ }{ }{ }{ }{ }{ }{ }{ }{**

Anderson followed the truck all the way back to the ships. His armor increased his speed, yes, but it wasn't enough for him to keep up. He could stay in visual range, but he wasn't gaining any ground. By the time the truck finally stopped and he had caught up, the Batarians were loading the cages into gunships. To make matters worse, John and Amy weren't amongst those yet to be loaded, and the gunships were already taking off.

Anderson grit his teeth in frustration. The Illusive Man would have his head for this. The least he could do was save the rest of them. Drawing his rifle, Anderson dashed forward. His armor's arm-joints locked to give him a steady firing platform even as he ran. Harpoon Rounds enhanced with Disruptor Ammo and coated in flammable chemicals sailed down range and tore into the troops loading the gunships. Three of them fell to his rifle and he had only extended half of a thermal clip. It was when the fourth hostile fell, the one he wasn't even aiming at, that Anderson looked around. What he saw surprised him.

Captain Ballard, the Commanding Officer of the _SSV Hastings_, and another man were also attempting a rescue. Anderson hurried over to them than ran past them. He didn't stop shooting until he made it into the Batarian ranks at which point he pulled a knife and went to work. He fought his way over to one of the gunships and ducked around its frame. As he did, he slapped his hand onto the hull then proceeded to cut his way back out the other side. When he skidded into cover beside Ballard and the other man his barrier was the nearest to falling it had been since his last encounter with Nihlus. It wasn't a comfortable feeling.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Soldier?" Ballard barked at him as the three of them hid behind a solid piece of concrete.

"Placed a tracker on the ship," Anderson managed to get out as he gasped for air. All this running, jumping, and fighting was starting to run its course. He was tired. "Just let them go. We'll track them down and get our people back later."

"Are you out of your mind?" the other man asked. "If we let them leave, we'll never see those people again!"

"They took them alive for a reason!" Anderson replied forcefully. "The beacon I put on that gunship is powerful enough to be picked up from entire sectors away. There's a Cerberus infiltration craft sitting behind the moon waiting for that single to reach a ship. If we track the gunship, we track the ship that launched it. If we do that, we can track the fleet."

"You're asking us to take a pretty serious risk there," Captain Ballard countered. "What's to stop the Batarians from launching that gunship again? And what happens if it's shot down?"

"That won't happen," Anderson replied as he pointed up. Above them, the massive form of the _SSV Kilimanjaro_ could be seen moving into orbit between the Batarian fleet and the remaining ships of the Mindoir Defense Fleet, the rest of Fourth Fleet hammering the Batarians from their flank so as to keep any missed rounds from hitting the planet. "Fourth Fleet was given a presidential order to allow the Batarians to flee. The only reason that the President agreed to let them leave was because of the slaves, but not because they wanted them to live. I think we can all agree that killing them before they can become slaves is better than knowing their lives just went to hell. That beacon was promised to the President by the Illusive Man himself. They're expecting it."

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***Alliance/Batarian Border (Unknown System)***

**System Edge**

*_SSV Infinity_ (CIC) [present]*

"The last shuttle is en route, Admiral," Hackett's XO informed him as the last Kodiak soared away from the Batarian fleet under Triton escort.

"_You have your people,"_ the Batarian in charge of the fleet said in a tight tone, _"Every last one of them, as promised."_

"No," Hackett replied in a solemn tone, "not all of them. You made sure of that when you ran through **our** streets and killed **our** people indiscriminately. Helmsman, order Cerberus to pull their ships back the moment they have all of ONI's boarding parties back onboard. Tactical, power weapons to max and target the slavers' fleet."

"Aye, aye, Admiral," the CIC crew replied in unison as they promptly carried out his orders. The _Infinity_ was so large of a ship that the CIC was nearly the same size as a small military command bunker. As such, there was no single tactical officer or helmsman; the ship had entire teams working every station due to the size of the ship. The current condition didn't help make things easier, but she was battle ready and Admiral Hackett was looking to make a point.

*_Glory of Khar'shan_ (CIC)*

Balak could only sit there, seething with anger, rage, and malice. He had been outdone by the damned up starters! This was unacceptable. His father himself had given him this assignment and now he, too, would feel the political backlash for his son's failure. His anger, however, was overcome by fear when the inner armor of the massive vessel dominating his viewport began to glow with a blue light.

The light escaped from a massive hole in the armor of the ship, but it was now that Balak realized that the ship had never been damaged. No, it was far too powerful for the Batarians to have inflicted such damage to a vessel such as that.

"By the Pillars!" Balak swore as realization came to him. "The damned thing was never finished!"

"What?" Uavoo asked, his voice tight with fear.

"That's not damage!" Balak growled, his voice full of rage. "It's still under construction!"

The light reached its peak, a small flash of white temporarily overpowering the blue before that glow shot forward like water in a tube and exited one of the massive cannons mounted on the front of the ship. Several of Balak's ships, conveniently lined up in a straight row due to their inability to move, were skewered by the light. Two Frigates, four transport ships, and a Cruiser all died as a line of fire sliced through their armor and breached their innermost layers before firing out the other side to strike the ship behind it. Seven ships as dead as a ship can be and all that destruction from just… one… shot.

"Under… under construction?" Uavoo asked timidly. "You mean to tell me that that… that… **thing** isn't even complete yet!"

He never received an answer to his question as the _Glory of Khar'shan_ was the next ship targeted. With her, three more Frigates and five more transport ships took enough damage, either directly or through the unfortunate luck of being too close to another ship as it succumbed to the power of the beam, died in balls of fire that lived only for as long as it took for the oxygen in the ship to be consumed by the flames.

*_SSV Infinity_ (Engineering)*

The Discharge Batteries powering the _Infinity_'s primary particle beam cannon all popped out and clattered to the floor as their energy was expended. The engineering crew quickly popped in new power cells before sending the fire-ready order to the tactical team in the CIC.

"This is madness!" the chief engineer said as he pushed another hover rack of fully charged Discharge Batteries over to their station. "Discharge Batteries weren't designed to power a ship this size. What is the Admiral thinking?"

"Logically speaking, the _Infinity_ was our only option here," one of his subordinates replied. "We melted down the Ark Ships to make this thing, it's the largest ship we have, and, without it, we wouldn't be able to carry all these people back to Alliance Space **and** provide them with the medical care they desperately need after two weeks of being slaves to the Batarians."

"That, and Admiral Hackett is **pissed**!" another engineer added. "Not even a full year after Shanxi and the Batarians just raided another colony."

"And besides, at least now we know for sure the weapons work and we're not just building this monster for show after all," a third added before the Discharge Batteries popped out again and they loaded the next set. "I just wish the Naquadah reactor was online so we didn't have to do this."

"What power we do have coming from the primary reactor's powering the barrier grid and engines," the Chief said. "Let's just be thankful for that, or we'd all die from exposure."

"Yeah…" another engineer agreed as he looked at one of the doors on the engineering deck. Beyond that door was the cold vacuum of space held in only by the _Infinity_'s barrier and that door. "Let's just be happy the Batarians don't have a chance in hell of breaking the barrier."

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***Location Classified: Tier 0 Access Required***

**Solar Orbit**

*_Cronos_ _Station_ (CCC)*

"_Sir, Anderson is here to see you,"_ the Illusive Man's aid informed him over the speaker.

"Let him in," the Illusive Man replied as he blew out a puff of smoke. "Anderson," the Illusive Man said as he turned to face the man. "I'm glad to see you made it off of Mindoir alive. I've heard that the fighting was rough."

"An entire colony sacked in a matter of hours. Hundreds dead, thousands taken prisoner… I've seen a lot of combat in my time, but nothing makes seeing dead civilians easy," Anderson replied. He was standing at attention before the figure who liked to portray an air of darkness.

"I don't doubt that," a female voice said from behind Anderson. He turned to see Gabriella entering the room. Her new arm still gave him the creeps even after a year of her having it. "Good work with the beacon, Anderson. I just got word from Alliance High Command. The _Infinity_ successfully intercepted the Batarian fleet on the boarder between our territories. If the Batarians try to go to war with us over the presence of our ships in a neutral system, they'll first have to explain to the Council why we were chasing after them in the first place, and, since we were only on the boarder, they can't say that we entered their sovereign territory either."

"Ah, Gabriella, your timing is as impeccable as ever," the Illusive Man said as the woman approached them. "What's the verdict?"

As was her custom these days, Gabriella rolled her eyes at her superior's antics before snapping her fingers. The low level lighting in the room rose until it was easy to see and the air started circulating to get rid of the staleness in the room. "You're starting to really get on my nerves with this cloak and dagger bullshit," Gabriella said as she walked further into the room. She passed Anderson and brought up a holo-screen for all three of them to view. "We need to go get Raven back."

"Get her back?" the Illusive Man asked.

"General Roland handed her over to the Asari Justicar that was on Mindoir. Her name's Samara and, before you ask, she really does have the best of intentions in mind, but I just don't trust a race of whores to take care of our people as well as we can. That, and she already has a history with Anderson and I'm more than a little worried that she'll be questioned. If they drug her, Raven might end up telling them that Cerberus still answers to the Alliance. We need to get her back before that becomes a reality."

"How can General Roland just hand her over like that?" Anderson asked, more than a little pissed at the man's audacity.

"As her father, he has the parental right to," Gabriella replied with a shrug.

"Parental right? He abandoned her the first opportunity he got and he thinks he has any type of parental right left over? General Shepard's been raising her for the past six years…" Anderson argued.

"General Shepard is dead," Gabriella interrupted him, "but you already knew that."

"Then his wife should hold more custody than that man does," Anderson countered.

"His wife is currently busing herself cleaning up her colony," the Illusive Man added.

"Nobody's blaming you, Anderson," Gabriella said when the man hung his head. "Honestly, I'm surprised that we managed to pull off everything we did. We lost a lot of good people, yes, but, thanks to you, we got the civilians back. You saved a lot of lives down there, David. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Anderson nodded in reply, but it was clear that he wasn't over this yet. Nobody blamed him for that either. "Where is she?" Anderson asked.

"We've narrowed it down to three locations," Gabriella replied. "She's either on a planet on the boarder with the Terminus Systems called Illium, the Asari homeworld of Thessia, or a well hidden planet where the Justicars keep the Ardat Yakshi locked up in a monastery. If she's there, we'll have to do some searching to find it, but at least we've narrowed it down."

"Go get some rest, Anderson. You're going to need it," the Illusive Man ordered. Anderson nodded in reply before exiting the large chamber that controlled _Cronos Station_. "I'm getting some strange readings from his suit," the Illusive Man noted as he brought up the screen that monitored Anderson's vitals.

Gabriella sighed in exasperation before replying to that. "It's called stress," she said sarcastically. "Mental exhaustion, physical pain, emotional turmoil. He's Human, Ryan. You know, the race that we're fighting so hard to protect? You still belong to it, don't you?"

Ryan nodded very slowly as he closed his eyes and leaned back in his seat. He took several deep breathes to calm himself and Gabriella used that opportunity to stick a needle into his arm. When Ryan opened his eyes again, the electronic blue that had consumed them since Shanxi was dimmed considerably.

"We need a more permanent solution," Ryan said as he stood up and walked across the room.

"I'm still working on that," Gabriella replied as she reloaded the needle she kept handy.

"And?" Ryan asked.

"It's not looking good," Gabriella said sadly. "Your mind is being overrun by an alien signal, a sort of white noise that makes it hard to think for yourself. The neural stimulant is a temporary solution at best as the side effects are… less than desirable. If you keep using them, it'll start to deteriorate your mind and that'll only make the effects of the white noise stronger as you lose your will to fight it."

"How long do I have?"

It was a simple question, but the answer wasn't one that Gabriella was willing to give. Instead, she lied. "A year," she said, "at the most."

****Citadel Council Public Codex****

***Primary Codex Entry***

**Asari: Culture**

*Athamite Justicars*

Born roughly ten-thousand years before the Asari discovered the Citadel, Avalynn was an Ardat Yakshi of terrifying biotic power and overwhelming of personality. Many of the current strictures of control over the sufferers of Thae'ir Syndrome stem directly from the reign of Avalynn the Foul, and many of the societal factors which shape day-to-day Asari living also descend from an utter rejection of her Hegemony.

Avalynn rose to power swiftly, using her charisma and her biotic power to first dominate and command the city-state of Serrice, then began to spread her influence over the next century to every city-state on the continent. Not only was Avalynn the only Asari in history to rule over a continental power, she was also, briefly, the sole ruler of the whole of Thessia.

However, her rule came with a heavy cost. As an Ardat Yakshi, her hunger only grew with the authority she held. In the beginning, she had a fresh victim every day. By the time she was in her Matriarch years, she scythed through a conservatively estimated one-hundred sacrifices a day. Considering her capacity to control the minds of those around her and her ability to annihilate an entire city block with her own biotics if necessary, she held Thessia in a grip of terror and bloodshed for nearly a millennia.

While Avalynn's biotic power was, without dispute, the greatest that any living being had ever attained, her control was not absolute. A small sect of monks dedicated to the faith of the Athame Doctrine, which had long fallen out of favor for the Asar faith and the Siari philosophy which evolved from it, militarized against Avalynn and waged a guerilla war against her. It took almost a century of constant fighting, with the Athamite Justicars sacrificing themselves the instant they felt themselves falling under Avalynn's control to keep the battle from falling from within, before the final blow was dealt which crippled Avalynn's rulership.

The death blow came, surprisingly, from the Prothean Cache which was located buried under Serrice. The Justicars discovered the uppermost levels of the old Prothean ruins in a desperate attempt to find some wisdom of their Goddess to help defeat the powerful Ardat Yakshi, but they instead discovered what is historically agreed to be a small anti-matter bomb. The weapon was smuggled out of Serrice and into Avalynn's palace in Armali. The plot to kill Avalynn was almost thwarted by Avalynn herself capturing the Justicar responsible for detonating the weapon, but, using what little Prothean technology they had recovered, the Justicar was able to activate the weapon. Her quotation upon doing so is disputed, but commonly agreed to be 'Find peace in the embrace of the Goddess.'

The bomb outright destroyed roughly half of Armali and still didn't manage to outright kill Avalynn herself, but, in her weakened state, the Justicars which remained were able to behead her. Her head, which doesn't even appear entirely Asari, remains in Justicar possession, embalmed in their High Monastery. The Justicars have remained a present force in Asari culture ever since. Ironically, had anybody delved any deeper into the Prothean Cache than the Justicars had, they would have discovered the Prothean spaceship which launched the Asari to the Citadel roughly eight-thousand years early.

*Disclaimer: The Codex entry for this chapter was written by College Fool. I lay no claim to its content.


End file.
